Paul J. Young, Sr.

Paul Joseph Young, Sr. of Whitehall was born January 26, 1924 in Gregory, Michigan to A. Vincent Young, Sr. and Alice Maude (Kuhn) Young.  He passed away Sunday, December 3, 2017 in North Muskegon.

Paul served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1945.  He packed and repaired parachutes in England.

He married Esther Risinger on May 28, 1949 in Grand Rapids.

Paul worked as a sales rep. for Standard Oil Co. in Battle Creek. In August of 1956, he took over the Bulk Distribution Plant from Gordon Morin, in Whitehall, delivering heating fuel to homes in the Whitehall/Montague area. He retired from Standard Oil in 1973. He went to work as Traffic Coordinator for Hooker Chemical, retiring in 1985. Not one for sitting still he and Esther ran an ice cream shop in Montague. Esther actually ran the shop, Paul enjoyed talking with their customers out on the deck. This allowed them to spend winters in Florida. He was the manager of Crystal Downs Mobile Home Park. He could usually be found out on his riding lawn mower, stopped, chatting.

They retired permanently in 2007 and moved to Fruitland Township near their son, Paul Jr. In 2016 he and Esther moved into assisted living at Northcrest in North Muskegon.

He enjoyed playing golf. A big thank you to Roger Zenker. Rog was his golf partner at Hickory Knoll every week, even after macular degeneration took most of his sight.

Paul was Past President of the Whitehall/Montague Rotary Club. A member of the Knights of Columbus and an usher at St. James Catholic Church. He was also an usher and eucharist minister at St. Mary’s of the Woods. He was a member of the Alcot Johnson American Legion Post 68, and the VFW Post.

Paul is survived by his wife of sixty-eight years, Esther; his children, Patricia O’Connell of Glendale, AZ, Kristine (Denny) Anguilm of Wayland, Joyce (Kim) Staton of North Muskegon, and Paul Jr. (Sandy) of Whitehall; grandchildren, David O’Connell, Keri Lorente, Donald O’Connell, Kathleen Sawyer, Kyle Anguilm, Kimberly Staton, Abbie Staton, Leah Young and Tiffany Young; fourteen great grandchildren; his brother and sister-in-law, Richard and Susan Young; sister and brother-in-law Mitzi and Ralph Esposito; brother-in-law, Val Keiser; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded by his parents; brothers, Tom, Robert (Alice), A. Vincent Jr. (Ruthe), Jack (Helen); sisters, Rita (Leo) Gibney, Elaine (Fred) Singer, and Ruthanne Keiser; his son-in-law, David O’Connell and nephew Fred Singer.

Visitation is Saturday, December 9th, 10 am until the service at 11 am at St. Mary's of the Woods Catholic Church, 150 Church Road, Twin Lake.  Arrangements are by Harris Funeral Home, Shelby.  

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