Denise Merle Young

June 14, 1949 - July 16, 2020

Denise Merle Young, our wife, mom, sister, Grammy, and friend, died unexpectedly in a horseback riding accident on July 16, 2020. Denise was born on June 14, 1949 in Sacramento, California to Jack Robert Leonard and Yvonne LaDuke. She was raised in the Sacramento area, the third of five children. Denise married Harold Fredrick Young (Hal), on December 19, 1970. They were six months shy of 50 years together. They were blessed with seven children and 25 grandchildren. Denise was spunky and a go getter from a young age. She taught herself to swim during summers at the local swimming pool and ended up swimming competitively. She also lifeguarded for work for several summers. She learned to sew and was making most of her own clothes by high school. She taught herself to dance and tumble through observation, and after several failed attempts at making the cheer team, her perseverance paid off. She was a cheerleader and song leader during high school, and at the local junior college where she attended for two years. The summer she turned eighteen she met the neighbor boy who had recently moved up from Southern California to live with his parents. At first she was unimpressed, but when Hal became the middle man between Denise and her boyfriend, they got closer, and the rest is history. They both moved down to Southern California to attend school, Hal at San Diego State, and Denise at University of Santa Barbara. After a year of Hal hitchhiking regularly up to UC Santa Barbara to see her, they got engaged and were married in December 1970. She got a degree in economics from San Diego State and taught school for several years on and off. In 1972 she and Hal moved to Northern California and started a life there where they enjoyed many adventures together with their seven children. Multiple “do it yourself” home remodels, bike trips along the Oregon and California coasts, camping trips, summers on the beach in Mexico, cross country excursions, and lots of time with family and friends. When Hal left teaching to partner in a financial advisory service, she was a big reason for its success. She worked hours behind the scenes to make it successful, and in 1998 Brecek & Young was named among the top ten most distinguished companies in Northern California. Perhaps the most pivotal moment in Denise’s life came when she was introduced to the gospel of Jesus Christ when she and Hal began dating. After researching and pondering the path she should take, she made the decision to be baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the age of 22. In addition to answering questions about faith that always plagued her young mind, she said her decision to be baptized and choose Christ gave her a more fulfilling life than she could have ever imagined possible. She served in many capacities in the Church throughout her life, including a recent mission to Mexico City where she served with Hal for shortly over a year. She was deeply impacted by the people she met there and speaks often about the way her life changed for the better because of the people she met. In her later married life she and Hal enjoyed traveling the world together with family and friends. She traveled to almost every continent, in almost every means of transportation possible, from train to kayak to bicycle, including her favorite—horseback over the Pyrenees Mountains. On one trip with a work partner to Nicaragua, they felt a need to invest time and money helping the people there. Over the past fourteen years working in Nicaragua, Denise contributed much to the people there. She developed a sewing program that helped people build small businesses. She created a library with over 200 books, along with a literacy project that reached kids in many sectors of the community. She taught cooking classes and introduced solar oven cooking. She was involved in helping with women’s health and together with Hal built a community center that has helped hundreds of people have hope for a more prosperous life. Her passing has left an entire community in Nicaragua in mourning. They were a second family. In 2003 her sister invited her to ride horses at her recently purchased ranch house. From her first moment on a horse, she was hooked. Horseback riding resonated with her heart and soul. She eventually purchased her own horse and became a very experienced rider, participating in numerous horse camping trips, endurance rides, and leisure trips with family and friends. Her family always joked that her horse Kauai was her eighth and favorite child. Denise’s most defining characteristic was her love of family. She was deeply devoted to her husband of almost 50 years, and she loved her kids, their spouses, and grandkids uniquely and fiercely. Walk into her house, and you won’t find a wall not filled with family photos and sayings about the importance of family. Whenever she talked about her grandkids, she always noted individually unique characteristics about each one that she loved. She would organize activities that were meaningful to each one, from sewing classes to fishing trips to shopping excursions. It mattered to her to connect with the people she loved on their level with what they cared about. She was undoubtedly the heart and soul of her large family. She is survived by her loving husband, Hal; seven children, Angie (Dan), Jacob (Wendy), Trista (Brad), Ben (Lacey), Lea (Jesse), Gina (Donald), and Greg (Sarah), and; 25 grandchildren. Also surviving are her two brothers, Jack (Kathy) and Ted, and two sisters, Gail and Marcia (Paul). Denise is preceded in death by her parents. There will be an in-person service (invitation only due to restricted attendance) at 10 am, Wednesday, July 22, 2020, at Green Valley Mortuary, 3004 Alexandrite Drive, Rescue, California. A live stream will be available for those who wish to participate remotely. This information will be posted a day prior to the service. Denise had recently been raising money to grow a nutrition program for malnourished kids in the Nicaraguan community where she served. In lieu of flowers, her family requests that donations be made to help reach more kids in this program that she cared about. Donations can be made via Venmo to World Wide Child Relief http://wwcrf.org/donate/ @wwcrf (Hal Young) or mailed to 521 Dizmar Court, Shingle Springs, California 95682. To view the livestream of the memorial service please click on the following link https://youtu.be/G8pjWGFCFeA