Debbie Wachter Morris
New Castle News
NEW CASTLE —
Many people in Lawrence County are familiar with Gayle M. Young’s work as director of the United Way.
But her friends, family and members of her church have shown the community a deeper, more spiritual, giving side to Young as a woman of style, fashion and grace.
Young, of Crawford Avenue, has been the secretary of the Bible Way Church of God near her home for 32 years.
A religious woman, she has been a missionary to the church, a Sunday School teacher and a mentor to her eight siblings.
She has fought and won a battle with breast cancer after being diagnosed in 2003 and enduring chemotherapy and radiation. She was declared cancer-free a year later.
The church congregation has honored Young every year for the past 23 years with a special church service declared as “Gayle M. Young Appreciation Day.”
This year’s worship, on Sunday, was more significant. It marked her milestone 50th birthday, and the church was nearly filled.
A banner decked with purple and white balloons stretched across the back wall of the altar. There were roses and there was singing, dancing and hand-clapping. Church members ranging from grade-school to seniors shared stories and performed a skit about how she has influenced their lives and bettered their community.
Young was thrilled.
“I’m still flying high on it,” she said yesterday, touched the most by the impressions she has made on the children in the church and in her family.
“It was wonderful having the young people be a part of it.”
Young comes from a family of eight sisters and a brother, the children of Gertie M. Gardner-Young and the late John E. Young II, who was the church pastor.
Young became the church secretary when her father began his mission there. Her only brother, John E. Young III, is the minister now.
A graduate of the Beaver Falls High School, Young attended Bradford Business School and was employed by the Alcoa Co. of Pittsburgh. Upon graduation she was hired by Arco Chemical Co., and later worked for the Redevelopment Authority of Beaver County.
Before becoming executive director of the Lawrence County United Way in 1994, she worked as campaign director for the United Way in Beaver County.
Her involvements have included memberships in Women’s Center of Beaver County, the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape and the Women’s Business Network.
She currently serves on several boards in Lawrence County, including New Visions, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the United Way of America, The Diamond Girls and FirstMerit Bank.
WOMAN OF FAITH
At church, Young is president of the pastor’s aide committee and teaches the New Members Sunday School class. She became a church missionary in 2006.
Shannon Young, her sister-in-law, told how Young manages the church finances and has made some offerings that were put into the bank to build the church’s funds.
Young also has inspired her siblings with her taste in clothing and style.
A younger sister, Angelia Brown, who is recovering from a second brain aneurysm surgery, told her, “You have set an example for so many young women, even just putting on clothes.”
One relative commented about her having a lot of fashionable shoes.
“I thank God you are my sister, Gayle, a great woman of faith,” Brown said. “You’re a woman of administration, you’re a great leader.”
“All of the role models in your life aren’t men,” added Young’s nephew, Chad Boler. He said he looks up to his aunt and has applied a lot of the things she has taught him in Sunday School to his life.
FAMILY PRAISE
Young’s brother, standing at the pulpit, said, “when you have someone so special in our family, you have to learn to share them.”
He touted Young as being “married to the city of New Castle and Lawrence County, and she spends countless hours at functions for the betterment of our town.”
He commended her for always being dressed up in public.
“There were 11 people in our house and I was the youngest,” John Young explained, adding his father was the only one who worked and food was scarce. But his sister had class and intuition that carried the family through.
Young also was lauded as a woman of stature by her friend, Jeannette Hubbard, pastor of Bethel AME Church, who gave the sermon.
“She has been an inspiration to me,” said Young’s mother of her third-oldest child. “If you listen to her and take it to your head you will learn something from her.”
Gertie Young thanked God for his healing power and for having blessed her daughter through the years.
“Her work with United Way is helping so many people,” she said. “I thank God for the work she’s doing in New Castle and in the community. I’m so proud to be Gayle’s mother.”
BIO
Missionary Gayle Marvis Young is the third daughter of nine children born to Missionary Gertie M. Gardner-Young and the late Pastor John E. Young Jr.
Gayle is a 1978 graduate of the Big Beaver Falls Area School District.
Upon graduation, Gayle attended Bradford Business School’s co-op program and was employed by the Alcoa Company of Pittsburgh. After graduating from Bradford, she was hired by the Arco Chemical Company; from there, she worked for the Re-Development Authority of Beaver County. The Lord ordered Gayle’s steps in these positions as He prepared her for what was ahead. Gayle was hired by the United Way of Beaver County as Campaign Director, which gave her the necessary training to become the Executive Director of United Way of Lawrence County in 1994. She is presently serving in this position which is an awesome responsibility that she could not handle without the help of God!
Missionary Gayle believes in serving, which is why she is so involved in the community. She has in the past served on such committees as the Women’s Center of Beaver County; the PA Coalition Against Rape; the Women’s Business Network and several others. Because of her willingness to serve and spotless reputation, Gayle has been placed on several Boards of Directors. Presently she serves on the Boards of New Visions; Federal Emergency Management Assistance (FEMA), the United Way of America; The Diamond Girls; and the prestigious First Merit Bank.
Gayle accepted Christ into her life at an early age, and she has remained steadfast in the faith. She loves the Lord with all of her heart and she proves it by being faithful to her church, the Bible Way Church of God in Christ, as well as her Pastor, Elder John E. Young III. She serves as the President of the Pastor’s Aide Committee, Secretary, and continues the awesome responsibility of teaching the New Members Sunday School class.
Gayle has gone through trials that keep her determined to live and work for the Lord. In January of 2003, Gayle was diagnosed with breast cancer. For over a year, she endured chemotherapy and radiation treatments that left her weak in her body. Yet through it all, Gayle never complained. She endured hardness as a good soldier, praised the Lord with every ounce of her strength and made it through believing that God was going to heal her. In 2004, her beliefs were confirmed when the doctor gave her a clean bill of health – there was no more cancer found in her body! Now you can’t sit her down – she continues to work within her community, work at her church, and most importantly; she continues to testify to others about Jesus Christ and His saving and healing power. Missionary Gayle Young has
taken the next spiritual level step, by accepting her calling as a Missionary In
The Church Of God In Christ, this year of 2006. God has qualified her for this
Calling. She teaches and speaks under the anointing, and she will continue to be a blessing to the Ministry.
