Obituary of Jacqueline Crawford Young

Jacqueline C. Young peacefully passed away in her sleep on the morning of Monday, January 11, 2021, four weeks shy of her 90th birthday.  Despite having been diagnosed with Covid-19 in December, “Jackie” was responding well to treatment at Peak / Brookshire skilled nursing facility in Hillsborough, NC, but ultimately succumbed.  Jackie’s smile, her humor, and her positivity will endure in all those who met or knew her.

Our thoughts and prayers remain with all seniors and healthcare workers battling COVID, and we wish them health and strength moving forward

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Jackie was born on February 10, 1931 in Durham, NC to father John Frank Crawford and mother Luna (Hearns) Boyd Crawford. She began school in South Carolina and then moved back to Chapel Hill, NC, where she attended Chapel Hill High School, graduating in 1949. Her older brother Jim Crawford (1928 – 2006) attended the University of North Carolina (UNC) and eventually graduate from UNC’s Dental School.  He became a practicing dentist, but he was also a talented and highly-regarded jazz musician who knew and/or played alongside notable greats including John Coltrane and Dave Brubeck.  Living locally, Jackie initially followed in her brother’s footsteps, matriculating at UNC in 1949 to study Sociology.

Jackie met Maurice E. “Gus” Young at UNC in 1950.  After Jackie’s graduation in 1953 and a year working at the Durham (NC) Center for the Blind, she and Gus married in November, 1954.  They relocated to Caribou, Maine, where Gus was a US Air Force Second Lieutenant at Loring Air Force Base.  They returned to Chapel Hill in 1956 where Gus worked toward a graduate degree at UNC in Physical Education and received his Masters Degree in 1957.  They then relocated to Hornell, NY where Gus taught and coached.

Jackie gave birth to son Randy B. Young in October, 1960 before moving back to North Carolina, where Gus taught and coached at West Forsyth High School in Clemmons. Jackie gave birth to her second son Steve C. Young in January, 1965, and the family moved to Springfield, Massachusetts in 1967, where Gus began studies toward a PhD in Physical Education at Springfield College and where Jackie initially worked as a daycare counselor.

Gus took a teaching and coaching position in Agawam, Massachusetts in 1969, and the family purchased a house in Agawam in 1972.  Gus and Jackie were members of the Agawam Congregational Church. Jackie began work in the Springfield City Library Music Department starting in the 1970’s and 1980’s, as sons Randy and Steve attended Agawam High School and eventually Dartmouth College in New Hampshire, as did their close family friend, Theodore L Fleming. Upon her sons’ college graduations and Gus’s retirement in 1987, he and Jackie( preceded by Steve and followed by Randy) moved back to Chapel Hill.

Steve earned a Master’s Degree in Counselling at UNC and embarked on a career as a school counselor.  He married Lesley Ellis Young in 1995, and the couple lives in Chapel Hill, NC.  Steve plans to retire in early 2021. Randy began working in public relations / communications at UNC where he met Kelly Maddry Young, and they married in 1992.  Kelly gave birth to Jackie’s grandchildren Alexa Young in 1995 and Harrison Young in 1997.  Randy retired from UNC on December 31, 2020.

Over the course of the 1990’s and 2000’s, Jackie and Gus enjoyed an active lifestyle in the Chapel Hill, NC area, taking in UNC Tar Heel sports and enjoying the vibrant campus-town community. They were members of the University Baptist Church.  Jackie enjoyed caring for her grandchildren and, later, rarely missing a chance to cheer them on as they engaged in a busy schedule sports and musical performances. When that calendar allowed, Jackie and Gus could often be found departing their Carrboro, North Carolina home for the pleasure of a country drive or a lunch date with Jackie’s high school girlfriends, with whom she’d stayed close since the 1940’s.

Jackie’s husband Gus was a humble man of principle, whose teaching and coaching lessons went far beyond the classroom or the playing field, but to Gus and her sons, Jackie was both a fervent fan and profound inspiration. She was devoutly dedicated to family and was a devoted wife, mother, friend (physician, cheerleader, support system, therapist, and navigator) for every adventure they undertook.

She loved spirited conversation, and she expressed a progressive and inclusive affection for her fellow man.  As much as she loved sports, she might be found even during televised Tar Heel games tucked away in a kitchen or den, picking at finger foods, debating politics, recommending a great movie or TV show or song, and regularly breaking into laughter. Jackie was highly incisive and clever, unpretentious and approachable, generous, sensitive, and open-minded.  She was quick to smile, easy to laugh, likeable, and even unpredictably mischievous.  She was not shy about expressing her opinions, nor was she shy with her affections.  Jackie was a hugger even for a family of huggers—she embraced new ideas, new friends, and the wide world with wonder and open arms.

Jackie was preceded in death in 2017 by her husband of 63 years, Maurice E. “Gus” Young, of Chapel Hill. Her brother Jim Crawford passed in 2006.  She is survived by her son Randy B. Young and his wife Kelly Young, her son Stephen C. Young and his wife Lesley Young, and her grandchildren Alexa Leigh Young (25) and Harrison John Young (23).  Ms. Young is also survived by longtime friends Theodore and Kathy Fleming of Simsbury, Connecticut.

In lieu of flowers, please consider honoring Jackie Young with a donation to either Duke Hospice (4321 Medical Park Drive Suite 101, Durham, NC 27704) or Alzheimer’s North Carolina (please use the links on the left).

The Young family is under the care of Walker's Funeral Home of Chapel Hill.