Mr. James “Wesley” Young, age 85, died Friday, June 12, 2015 at his residence in Ocilla, Irwin County, Georgia.
Funeral services will be held at 2 PM, Monday, June 15, 2015, at the Ocilla United Methodist Church with the Rev. Jay Roberson and Rev. Carroll McMillan officiating. Interment will follow in the Old Valley Grove Cemetery in Irwin County. The family will be receiving friends one hour prior to the service on Monday, at the Ocilla United Methodist Church in Ocilla, GA.
Mr. Young was born May 17, 1930 in Tifton, GA to the late Jacob Charley and Sallie Jane McMillan Young. Wesley was a 1947 graduate of the Alapaha High School in Berrien County, where he also played basketball for the Lions Club of Alapaha. Wesley continued his education at ABAC where he completed an Associates degree in Agricultural; and was an avid Gardner, as well as loving and caring for his animals. He was a well-respected farmer in the Irwin county community for well over fifty years and was a member of the Ocilla United Methodist Church where he served two terms on the Administrative Board. He and Mrs. Young were both, for many years active in the chancel choir at the church; he also served several years as president of the National Farmers Organization (NFO). He was a veteran of the United States Army, serving during the Korean Conflict.
Survivors include his loving wife of sixty-three years, Irma Abbott Young of Ocilla; two daughters and sons-in-law: Irma Jane Y. Richardson and husband Gerald of Chula, Mary Ann Y. Peacock and husband Dermot of Mars Hill, North Carolina; three grandchildren and their spouses, Jamie Richardson and wife Brooke, Kris Richardson and wife Christy and Scott Richardson and wife Nichole; four great-grandchildren, Wesley, Cam, Max and kaydance Richardson; several nieces and nephews also survive, along with his canine daughter, “Snow”. He was preceded in death by his parents; two sisters, Grace Y. Flanders and Betty Young; two brothers, Willis Edisel Young and Bobby Valgene Young.