Rest in Peace Frank
I got a call from my mom last night. She wanted to let me know that my aunt's father had passed away. She's taking it very hard, probably because Frank worked with her brother at the paper before he and my aunt got married. While I don't have Frank's obituary just yet, I do have the article they wrote on his passing.
1921-2009: Franklin Young, adventurous, versatile Jacksonville journalist dies at 88
By Jessie-Lynne Kerr
Franklin Young, an adventurous and versatile journalist and ombudsman for The Florida Times-Union for nearly three decades, died of congestive heart failure Saturday night at his daughter's home in Gainesville.
Mr. Young, a resident of Atlantic Beach for 51 years, was 88.
There will be a memorial service at 2 p.m. Saturday at Community Presbyterian Church, 150 Sherry Drive, Atlantic Beach.
Mr. Young covered just about every beat during his 28 years at the Times-Union, the last four as the reader advocate, representing readers in matters of concern about newspaper content. He covered the police beat, education, environment, military, Jacksonville city government, JEA and JaxPort.
Former Mayor Hans Tanzler said he remembers Mr. Young as "one of the best reporters I've ever known. He always had a good handle on what he was writing about, and he never tried to lead you. He was a great interviewer."
Times-Union columnist Ron Littlepage, who was metro editor in the early 1980s and supervised Mr. Young, said, "Frank was a writer's writer. His style reflected his Southern roots - smooth, easy to read, rich in detail - especially when he was writing about people. Mostly, he was a friend with a big heart and always a twinkle in his eyes."
In 1976 readers were treated to Mr. Young's account of wing walking at the age of 55 on top of a World War II model Stearman biplane just days before the Blue Angels air show at Cecil Field.
The headline on that story was: Our Fearless Frank Young Finds That Not All Nuts Are on Trees.
In his account, Mr. Young wrote, "You are feeling the pure wind blowing in your face - it's hitting it at 95 to 100 miles an hour - and you turn upward and toward the sky.
"To call it a strange feeling is an understatement. You literally have been lifted out of this world."
At age 61 he gave in to a four-decade dream and went parachute jumping, only to shatter his ankle and shinbone when he landed stiff-legged and didn't roll when he was supposed to.
In 1976 before Elvis Presley was to appear in a concert at the old Jacksonville Coliseum, Mr. Young recalled interviewing the rock 'n' roll superstar 20 years earlier when he was playing a one-nighter in an old red-brick armory in some small Southern town.
"Presley was so happy to get publicity in those days and was so awed by the whole thing he could hardly believe it," Mr. Young wrote.
The soft-spoken journalist with a syrupy Carolina accent was born in an aging hotel his father managed in Salisbury, N.C., a small town in the foothills of the North Carolina mountains, and grew up in nearby Charlotte.
He once wrote that he could hear the call of adventure beckoning early and beginning at age 16 spent a month each summer at Fort Bragg learning to ride artillery horses and shoot French 75 cannons.
After a few unsuccessful months trying his hand at college, he went to Panama as a construction worker. But when World War II broke out, he quickly volunteered and spent the next three years in the Army Air Force.
An aerial gunner on a Douglas A20 Havoc aircraft with the 9th (Tactical) Air Force, 410th Bombardment Group, 644th Squadron, Mr. Young flew 65 missions over Germany, France, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. During none of the missions did he have to bail out by parachute.
He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, 13 Air Medals and several campaign stars.
After the war, Mr. Young enrolled at Duke University where he earned his B.A. degree in 1950. His first reporting job was later that year at the Salisbury (N.C.) Evening Post. He came to the Times-Union in 1958 and retired in 1986.
He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Marian Tiller Young; a daughter, Mary Ellen Young Lee of Gainesville; and a son, Linville F. Young Jr. of Los Angeles.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, 4237 Salisbury Road, Suite 406, Jacksonville, FL 32216; Friends of Animals Foundation, P.O. Box 34-1230, Los Angeles, CA 90034; the Jacksonville Humane Society, 8464 Beach Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32216; or a pet rescue organization of your choice.
1921-2009: Franklin Young, adventurous, versatile Jacksonville journalist dies at 88
By Jessie-Lynne Kerr
Franklin Young, an adventurous and versatile journalist and ombudsman for The Florida Times-Union for nearly three decades, died of congestive heart failure Saturday night at his daughter's home in Gainesville.
Mr. Young, a resident of Atlantic Beach for 51 years, was 88.
There will be a memorial service at 2 p.m. Saturday at Community Presbyterian Church, 150 Sherry Drive, Atlantic Beach.
Mr. Young covered just about every beat during his 28 years at the Times-Union, the last four as the reader advocate, representing readers in matters of concern about newspaper content. He covered the police beat, education, environment, military, Jacksonville city government, JEA and JaxPort.
Former Mayor Hans Tanzler said he remembers Mr. Young as "one of the best reporters I've ever known. He always had a good handle on what he was writing about, and he never tried to lead you. He was a great interviewer."
Times-Union columnist Ron Littlepage, who was metro editor in the early 1980s and supervised Mr. Young, said, "Frank was a writer's writer. His style reflected his Southern roots - smooth, easy to read, rich in detail - especially when he was writing about people. Mostly, he was a friend with a big heart and always a twinkle in his eyes."
In 1976 readers were treated to Mr. Young's account of wing walking at the age of 55 on top of a World War II model Stearman biplane just days before the Blue Angels air show at Cecil Field.
The headline on that story was: Our Fearless Frank Young Finds That Not All Nuts Are on Trees.
In his account, Mr. Young wrote, "You are feeling the pure wind blowing in your face - it's hitting it at 95 to 100 miles an hour - and you turn upward and toward the sky.
"To call it a strange feeling is an understatement. You literally have been lifted out of this world."
At age 61 he gave in to a four-decade dream and went parachute jumping, only to shatter his ankle and shinbone when he landed stiff-legged and didn't roll when he was supposed to.
In 1976 before Elvis Presley was to appear in a concert at the old Jacksonville Coliseum, Mr. Young recalled interviewing the rock 'n' roll superstar 20 years earlier when he was playing a one-nighter in an old red-brick armory in some small Southern town.
"Presley was so happy to get publicity in those days and was so awed by the whole thing he could hardly believe it," Mr. Young wrote.
The soft-spoken journalist with a syrupy Carolina accent was born in an aging hotel his father managed in Salisbury, N.C., a small town in the foothills of the North Carolina mountains, and grew up in nearby Charlotte.
He once wrote that he could hear the call of adventure beckoning early and beginning at age 16 spent a month each summer at Fort Bragg learning to ride artillery horses and shoot French 75 cannons.
After a few unsuccessful months trying his hand at college, he went to Panama as a construction worker. But when World War II broke out, he quickly volunteered and spent the next three years in the Army Air Force.
An aerial gunner on a Douglas A20 Havoc aircraft with the 9th (Tactical) Air Force, 410th Bombardment Group, 644th Squadron, Mr. Young flew 65 missions over Germany, France, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. During none of the missions did he have to bail out by parachute.
He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, 13 Air Medals and several campaign stars.
After the war, Mr. Young enrolled at Duke University where he earned his B.A. degree in 1950. His first reporting job was later that year at the Salisbury (N.C.) Evening Post. He came to the Times-Union in 1958 and retired in 1986.
He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Marian Tiller Young; a daughter, Mary Ellen Young Lee of Gainesville; and a son, Linville F. Young Jr. of Los Angeles.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests memorial contributions to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, 4237 Salisbury Road, Suite 406, Jacksonville, FL 32216; Friends of Animals Foundation, P.O. Box 34-1230, Los Angeles, CA 90034; the Jacksonville Humane Society, 8464 Beach Blvd., Jacksonville, FL 32216; or a pet rescue organization of your choice.