Vashon Island will remember Kathryn (Kay) Young in many ways. She was the neighbor who tried to fatten you up with her delicious cookies, cakes and brownies. She was the friend who kept candles lit for you at St. John Vianney, secure in her knowledge that love and faith always make a difference. She was the baseball fan, following with great joy the career of her favorite player—grandson Simon Perrin—as well as the Boston Red Sox. She was the best pal to Sandy, the “career change” Guide Dog Puppy who became her beloved companion. Those who knew her best will remember Kay as an amazing woman with a wealth of talents, a sly wit, an engaging manner, a will of iron, and a fierce love for and loyalty to those who were her dearest.
The Kay Young that Vashon didn’t get to know—though glimpses most certainly shone through—was all of this and much more. Kay was the middle child of Ruth and Harold Follett. She grew up in the small town of Adams, in Depression Era western Massachusetts. She was a high school cheerleader and the apple of her father’s eye. As a teenager, she worked in the local textile mills, and as a young adult, at the Pentagon. Her late twenties were spent back in Adams, in the company of dear friends, as companion to her widowed mother, and falling in love with the dashing Ken Young. She was a glamorous woman who a cousin remembers as “the movie star of our family.”
Kay and Ken spent their early, married years living in an Airstream trailer on the Purdue University campus during what Kay always referred to as “the best of times.” Continuing the move West and settling in the Southern California of the early 60s, they raised children Carrie and Ken Jr. who remember their mother as a serial worrier, a force to be reckoned with, and the person who loved them completely and unconditionally. She is deeply missed.
Kay is preceded in death by her husband, Ken Young, Sr. She is survived by daughter Carrie Young Perrin and son Ken Young, Jr., as well as their spouses Henry Perrin and Dana Young, and grandson Simon Perrin, all of Vashon Island. She also leaves behind numerous nieces, nephews, cousins, a brother-in-law, and the friends made throughout her life’s journey.
A funeral mass will be held at St. John Vianney parish, at 5:00 pm on Friday, September 10. An informal gathering will be held in the parish hall prior to the mass, beginning at 3:30 pm. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Guide Dogs for the Blind program, P.O. Box 3950, San Rafael, CA, 94912-3950.
(paid obituary)
