"Don't you know that it's worth every treasure on Earth to be young at heart." -- Frank Sinatra, 1953; music by Johnny Richards, lyrics by Carolyn Leigh.

     "I enjoy being busy, it's as simple as that," Young, 73, said.

     A native of Fayette City and a 1952 graduate of Charleroi High School, Young has retired from two careers and is currently enjoying a third   one that takes him from his home in Shepherdstown, WV to assignments across the country. And he and his wife, the former Martha Kridle of Mapletown, are active in their community.

     "It's only part-time work, something I've been doing the past 11 years," Young said of his duties as a career transition consultant. "The company specializes in conducting seminars around the country, primarily at Navy and Marine Corps activities, for career military personnel preparing to leave the service and join the private sector for their next career. It provides a great opportunity to stay busy and offer a service for military
members and their families."

     Young also sees it as a way of "giving back" to active duty service personnel in a manner that is "personally very satisfying and rewarding."

     Those sentiments are especially meaningful to Young, who served in the U.S. Navy 24 years.

     He entered the service through Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI in the summer of 1956, not long after graduating from California State Teachers College. That decision precluded the possibility of a career in organized baseball. He was a standout player at Charleroi High, in college and with a number of top sandlot teams in the area. His skills as an infielder and a hitter drew an invitation from the Pittsburgh Pirates to participate in spring training in 1954.

     Two legendary Fayette City men, Jim Hamer, a longtime National Football League official, and James "Dock" Russell, patriarch of the well known sports family, convinced Young to concentrate on his education.

     "George Sisler was the Pirates' supervisor of scouting at the time and I responded to his offer about spring training by telling him I was interested in finishing college before thinking about professional baseball," Young said. "He wrote back to tell me to contact the team when I graduated, that they would still be interested in me. I'm glad I listened to the advice of Mr. Hamer and Mr. Russell."

     Another factor in choosing the military was Young's admiration for his uncle, Clarence Stark.

     "He greatly influenced my interest in the Navy and sports," Young recalled. "He was my mother's brother and he played halfback at Monessen High School in the 1930s. Later, he was the football coach at Marion High School and then coached football and was faculty manager of athletics at Uniontown High School. He served in the Navy as an officer from 1943 to 1945."

     Young's MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) in the Navy was in supply and logistics. Most of his assignments were related to supporting naval aviation units.

     "Martha and I traveled around the country and overseas," Young said. "Our children were born in Hawaii, California and Virginia. We were stationed at Naval bases on both coasts San Diego, San Francisco, Norfolk, Newport and also in Hawaii and Japan."

     Young, whose military experience also provided a Master's degree in management from the Navy Post Graduate School in Monterey, CA, served on three different ships.  His most memorable assignment was as supply officer aboard the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CV-67).

 
     "While on the Kennedy in the early 70s, I was welcoming an admiral's staff aboard and I noticed the name of a Captain Glunt," Young said. "After a brief discussion I realized he was (Dave) 'Dinky' Glunt, the son of my principal at Charleroi High, David L. Glunt. We had a great time talking about old times in the Mon Valley."

     He also renewed acquaintances with another Charleroi High School classmate, Walter Hutchinson, while stationed in Japan in 1967.

     Young retired from the Navy in 1980 with the rank of captain. His last assignment was in Washington, D.C. The family continued to live in northern Virginia and Young was hired by a computer and management consulting firm in Arlington. He joined the company, which specialized in providing support to military services, as a project manager and left in 1996 as a senior vice president.

     He wasn't idle very long, as a former Navy friend asked him to join his consulting firm and he continues in that job today.

     Young's journeys to far away places began in Fayette City, where he was born June 9, 1934, a son of the late Clarence William and Lois Stark Young. His father was an auto mechanic and worked for many years at Kinder and Mollenauer Auto Supplies in Charleroi. That job led Jack to Charleroi High School.

 
     "I attended Fayette City Elementary School through eighth grade," he said. "Fayette City had a high school but it closed in the 40s. Children were then given the choice of attending either Marion High School in Fairhope or Charleroi High. I selected Charleroi because my brother Bob had gone there ahead of me and also because my father worked in Charleroi. I would ride to Charleroi in the mornings with him and then hitch-hike home from school in the afternoon. Buses also ran regularly between Charleroi, Belle Vernon and Fayette City."

     Growing up in Fayette City was like being in Mayberry RFD, Young recalled.

     "It was like one big family setting, everyone knew everyone else, and their business," he said laughingly. It was hard to be out of sight in Fayette City. You went to school with the same kids from first grade through high school and you played and took part in other activities together every day. It was wonderful to grow up in such an environment."

     The transition to Charleroi School District after eighth grade was an easy one because of friendships developed through sports.

     "Fayette City students who chose to go to Charleroi began there in ninth grade," Young said. "Kids from Lock Four also moved up at the same time, so there was common bond with them. Don Smith and Pete Weber were two Lock Four guys we ran around from the very start."

     There were, Young emphasized, a "lot of new faces and friends," such people as Ed Hank, Ronnie Nandor, Dick Schwendeman, Pete Cherocci, Chuck Corbelli, Jerry Lisovich, Bernie Martorella and Bill Hall. Other friendships evolving from sports included Wayne Campagni, Adam Vlanich, Gene Uhlman, Jack Fayak, Herk McCracken, Dave Briggs, Ron Moyer, John Beatty, Bob Green, Steve Slavonia, Joe Snyder and Tom Simala.

     "From ninth grade through high school it was great to be a Cougar," Young said. "Ed Sweadner gave CHS the best band in the Mon Valley."

     Activities were not limited to sports.

     "Dances were held in such swank spots as the Jumpin' Jive Bee Hive and the Roscoe Fire Hall," he said. "We actually danced to a live performance by Bill Haley and the Comets at the Bee Hive. I learned to dance initially from my mother, but in ninth grade my teacher was Norma Cherocci. Everyone had great times at the dances that took place up and down the Valley, from Monongahela to California."

     Charleroi also broadened the entertainment aspect of Young's life in another way.

     "We had only one movie house, Bell's Theater, in Fayette City, although there also were the Verdi in North Belle Vernon and the Ritz in downtown Belle Vernon," he said. "But Charleroi had four theaters, the Coyle, State and Palace on McKean Avenue and the Menlo on Fallowfield. You could go (to the Menlo) and stay all day because they usually had double features, a serial or two and cartoons."

     Post-movie adventures in Charleroi also included going to Isaly's for a Klondike Bar, a Skyscraper ice cream cone or a chipped ham sandwich.

     Elsewhere, entertainment was provided at the Super 71 drive-in theatre and the Dog House and Camino's restaurants at Allen's Crossroads in Rostraver Township. The latter two offered "great sandwiches and cute girls (carhops) who took your order at the side of your car."

     "If you really wanted to go upscale, you could drive over toward West Newton and eat at Sweeney's restaurant," Young smiled. "And it had the added attraction of a miniature golf course."

     Attending California State Teachers College brought Martha Kridle, a graduate of Mapletown High School, into Young's life. Both graduated from California. and they were married December 26, 1957 in Uniontown and celebrated their Golden Anniversary in December. They have lived in Shepherdstown since 1999. Martha is a retired teacher.

     The Youngs are the parents of three children.

 
     Their daughter, Beth Ann Young, a graduate of The Pennsylvania State University, lives in Seattle, WA and owns a catering company. A son, Richard J. Young, is a graduate of Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV and is a U.S. Navy veteran. He and his wife Kelly are the parents of a son, Mason, 8, and the family lives in Shepherdstown. Another son, Jack William Young, graduated from West Virginia University, recently retired from the U.S. Air Force as a pilot and is currently flying with Continental Airlines. He and his wife Carol and their son Jack Jr., 9, reside in San Antonio, TX.

     Young's ties to the area remain strong with his brother, Bob L. Young, a 1949 Charleroi High graduate, and his wife, the former Yvonne Teulle, also a CHS grad, who reside in North Charleroi, and a cousin, Helen Scullion Backstrom, and her husband, Don, who live in Fayette City. Martha's sister, Lois Hlavac, lives in Oakmont and they visit her during their trips back home.

     "Throughout my life I have always considered my mother and father to be my prime role models and mentors," Young said. "Their guidance was through the personal examples they were in the community and in the warm and loving Christian home they provided as well as the discipline and rules to live by. I was constantly supported and encouraged to be all that I could be."

     Young's brother was, and remains, "my hero, confidant and best friend," he said.

     "(Bob) always included me and my friends in the neighborhood activities," Young said. "I was always stretched to be good enough to play with the older kids, whether it be in sports or other activities. I have always looked back on those experiences as being basic and instrumental in my ability to meet new challenges and to succeed. There were others who provided guidance and encouragement in my life, but the real mentoring started with my family and our extended family. I still live by the same Christian and family values I was fortunate to experience growing up in a small town in the Valley."

     Even though he has enjoyed success in life, Young emphasizes that his proudest achievement is "marrying Martha and sharing with her the raising of our children."

     "We are proud of their accomplishments and how they have become responsible adults and citizens," Young said. "Family and friends are what it is all about."

 
     Jack and Martha Young live in Shepherdstown, WV and have been married 50 years.