Dec. 20, 1926 – Jan. 2, 2020

 

NATCHEZ– Services for Dorothy Dean Thomas Young, 93, who died Thursday, Jan. 2, 2020, in Scranton, Pennsylvania, will be 11 a.m. Wednesday at First Baptist Church in Natchez with the Rev. Doug Broome officiating.

Burial will follow at Greenlawn Memorial Cemetery under the direction of Laird Funeral Home

Visitation will be from 9 a.m. until service time at the church.

Mrs. Young was born Dec. 20, 1926, in Franklin County, daughter of Sam Thomas and Ivy Aldridge Thomas.  The family moved to Natchez in the late 1930s.

After moving, Mrs. Young worked at the Gem Café in downtown Natchez for seven years.  She married Thomas E. Young Jr. in December of 1949 in King’s Tavern with the Rev. W.A. Sullivan of First Baptist Church officiating.  She took time to raise her family and returned to work in the mid 1970s at the Prentiss Motel/Best Western/Howard Johnson, as waitress and banquet coordinator for 23 years. In 1994, she received July’s Tourism Superstar honor for her caring spirit and heart of hospitality.  When the motel was sold in 1999, Mrs. Young went to work at Rosalie Mansion, home of the Mississippi State Society Daughters of the American Revolution, where she was a tour guide for 12 years before retiring with various health problems.  Mrs. Young had been a member of First Baptist Church since 1948.  As a woman of faith, her Christian influence led many others to Christ.

Mrs. Young was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Thomas E. Young Jr.; one son, Michael Stephen Young; three brothers, James S. Thomas, Alton Russell Thomas and Billy Fred Thomas; one sister, Catherine Elizabeth Thomas; and two sisters-in-law, Christel Thomas of Pangburn, Arkansas, and Bessie Thomas of Natchez.

She is survived by one daughter, Kathleen Harrison and husband, Kenneth, of Dalton, Pennsylvania; two sons, Thomas E. Young III and wife, Kathy, of Natchez, and Robert Young and wife, Jerilyn, of Pangburn; two grandchildren, Kris Fendrock and husband, Joe, of Waverly, Pennsylvania, and Dean Harrison of Hollywood, California; three great- grandchildren, Victoria Fendrock, Michael Fendrock and Matthew Fendrock of Waverly; and a number of nieces and nephews.

Pallbearers will be Ricky Thomas, Lee Thomas, Kenneth Harrison, Dean Harrison, Fred Morris and Ray Swilley.

Memorial contributions may be made to First Baptist Church of Natchez or the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at lairdfh.com.