JEANNE MARY LEWIS YOUNG
Of Silver Spring, Maryland, beloved wife of Sammie R. Young for 58 years, passed away March 15, 2012, with her husband and daughter by her side at the Montgomery Hospice Casey House in Rockville, Maryland. She was 84. Jeanne was born July 21, 1927, in Jeannette, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Morrison F. Lewis, Sr., who emigrated from Syria as a young boy, and Fernande P. Michaux, who was the first-born of Belgian emigrants. Jeanne attended Sacred Heart Catholic School through grade eight and graduated from Jeannette High School in 1945.
Following graduation from high school, Jeanne enrolled in the government sponsored Cadet Nurse Corps and received an R.N. from the Westmoreland Hospital School of Nursing in 1948. In 1950, she was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force Nurse Corps. Stationed initially at Mitchel Air Force Base in Long Island, NY, she cared for injured American soldiers returning from the war in Korea. In 1953, she transferred to Orlando Air Force Base in Florida where she met Sammie, a Captain in the Air Force, and they married on December 4, 1953. Jeanne also attended flight school in Alabama and earned her wings as a Flight Nurse. In 1955, Jeanne left the Air Force as a Captain and assumed the role of a military spouse, accompanying Sammie during many relocations. In 1960, while the couple was stationed at Goose Air Base in Goose Bay, Labrador, she gave birth to her only child, Milissa. A year later, after returning to the States, the family moved to Louisiana, then Texas and New Jersey, before finally settling in Silver Spring, Maryland in 1971.
While Jeanne’s greatest love was spending time with her family, she also enjoyed cooking, sewing, reading, and participating in the neighborhood bridge club she helped establish in the 1970’s. She was a member of the Church of the Resurrection in Burtonsville, Maryland, and enjoyed volunteering in the church’s food pantry and as a member of its crafts group. Jeanne was a member of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA); the Disabled American Veterans (DAV); and a Charter Member of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation.
Jeanne will be most remembered as a devoted wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend who touched the lives of many with her caring and gentle ways. She leaves to cherish her memory her husband, Sammie R. Young; her daughter, Milissa Jeanne Young-Loiselle and husband, Jim Loiselle of Arlington, VA; her grandson, Alan Gebhardtsbauer of Arlington, VA; her brother, Ferdinand (Fred) Lewis and his wife, Rosemary of Jeannette, PA; her brother, Morrison Lewis, Jr. and his wife, Rosemary of Jeannette, PA; her sister-in-law, Betty Young Scaldini of Yarmouth, MA; and 16 nieces and nephews.
A Memorial Mass will be held Monday, April 16, 2012 at 11 a.m. at the Church of the Resurrection, 3315 Greencastle Road, Burtonsville, Maryland 20866. A private interment will be held at a later date at Arlington National Cemetery. If desired, memorial contributions may be made to the Church of the Resurrection or to the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation, Washington, DC 20042-0560.
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