Frank Young

Warner F. Young, Jr., better known as Frank, husband of Earline Watson Young, died at his home in Eastville, VA, on April 14, 2023, at 92 years of age.

Born October 19, 1930, on his grandparents’ farm, near Mears, VA, in upper Accomack County, he was the son of the late Warner F. Young, Helen Byrd Young Corbin, and Donald M. Corbin. When he was eight years old his father passed away. He then returned with his mother and sister to his maternal grandfather’s home and store in Sanford, VA. Years later, he would recount memories to his children of a “peaceful waterman’s village with many trees, along a country road.” He would talk of it having “the homes of its physician and minister and of homes well kept.” There he learned about integrity, unpretentiousness, and hard work.

He considered the most fortunate happening in his life to be married to his wife of 71 years. In addition to her, he is survived by a daughter, Heather Young Titrington and her husband, John; two sons, Warner F. Young III, and Cornelius Byrd Young and his wife, Carla; eight grandchildren, Elizabeth Titrington Craft and her husband, Joshua, Adam Titrington and his wife, Laura Erban, Susanne Titrington Edmunds and her husband, Ted, Nathaniel Young, Leah Young, Samuel Young, Clara Young, and Violet Young; and six great grandchildren, Henry and Ella Titrington, Anna and John Craft, and Connor and Evelyn Edmunds.

He served in the United States Navy aboard the U.S.S. Aldebaran during the time of the Korean War. In 1960, he realized a life’s dream, earning a degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Virginia. Thereafter, he began a thirty-three-year professional career in industry, government service, and heavy construction.

Initially he worked with Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. There he designed a bridge crane used in bending nuclear submarine hull sections and prepared plans to install the catapult steam tanks in the nuclear carrier Enterprise.

Later, he joined N.A.S.A. at Wallops Station. He was the structural designer for a rocket launch facility in Point Barrow, AK.

In heavy construction, he worked as a chief field engineer in building the second interstate tunnel under Hampton Roads. He was the job superintendent for constructing super-tanker docks for Mobil Oil and Amoco.

Having accumulated additional time to do so, he retired in 1993 at the Naval Shipyard, returning to his native Eastern Shore where he resided in Eastville.

He remained active in retirement. He served Christ Church on several projects, on the vestry, and as treasurer. The Eastern Shore of Virginia Historical Society occupied considerable time at Kerr Place in Onancock, VA, where he served on the Board of Directors, being instrumental in restoration. A great joy was helping save the 1904 log canoe Annie C as an artifact for future generations.

A founding member of the Board of the Francis Makemie Society, he enjoyed working with new and old friends on the Makemie Park restoration. He was also a past member and past president of the Chincoteague Kiwanis, and his children remember with joy and appreciation the year that he and the Kiwanis brought the circus to town.

He was a man of integrity, goodness of heart, and an unflinching honesty, and he valued these qualities, above all, in others. His friends came from many walks of life, and with them, his family, and others, he gave generously of his time and resources, recognizing “… to know that even one life has breathed easier because you lived. This is to have succeeded.”

A celebration of life service will be held Saturday, April 29, 2023, at 11:00AM at Christ Episcopal Church with Reverend Janet Wheelock officiating. Interment will be private. Memorials may be made to Christ Episcopal Church, PO Box 367, Eastville, VA 23347 or to the Annie C Fund, c/o Kerr Place, Shore History, PO Box 179, Onancock, VA 23417.

Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.doughtyfuneralhome.com

Arrangements were made by Doughty Funeral Home in Exmore, Virginia.