The Centerville resident spent decades as a power engineer, introducing electricity to Indonesia, Thailand, the Middle East and to millions of rural Americans. Or, Young thought, he could share life experiences — that it’s possible to live through great pain. His eldest son died unexpectedly, and Young watched his beloved wife, Charlotte, succumb to Alzheimer’s disease.
“You can do a lot of things you don’t think you can do,” Young said quietly. He smiled at Janice, his wife since 2007. Fate brought them together after they met 40 years earlier. And now, they were celebrating this monumental birthday together with family and friends, some from as far away as California. “I’ve always tried to keep my faith and do my best.”
There was no electricity — no running water — in rural Greasy Ridge, Kentucky, when Young was born in March 1925, the youngest of 11 children. The family garden provided all the vegetables they canned. Surplus peas, corn and potatoes were sold in town from their flatbed truck
At age 10, Young began his first job. “My dad said, ‘‘You’re the house boy now,‘” Young laughed.
Young’s mother had survived a stroke but could no longer lift a laundry basket or cook meals. Young’s sisters had all left home, so Young stoked the wood stove. He hauled heavy laundry to the nearby spring and scrubbed dirty work shirts.
“With all that time together, my mother and I got close,” said Young.
Service to his country
At just 18 in 1943, Young knew his draft notice for World War II would come soon, so he enlisted in the Navy.
“I remember my mom sitting on the front porch, tears streaming down her cheeks. She told me, ‘Everything is going to be all right, Ralph.’ I knew she was going to watch over me.”
Young was assigned to the USS J. Franklin Bell, an amphibious assault transport tasked with getting fighting forces to key battle sites in the Pacific. He dodged bullets, fired at Japanese fighter planes and kept guns in working order. After the fall of Saipan in 1944, Young’s ship moved to D-Day battles at Tinian and Leyte, and finally, Okinawa, in 1945.
Young’s mother died while he was away, but he knew she and God would continue to protect him. “I could feel it.”
A global family and career
Discharged in 1946, Young returned to Greasy Ridge, ready to build his life. It only took a few months of dating beautiful Charlotte before Young knew she was the one for him. They married in 1947.
Young said he also had definite career ideas. He was inspired by the engineers who were bringing power lines to his community as part of the Rural Electrification Act. Radios, electric lights, washing machines and much more were finally a reality.
He and Charlotte moved their new son, Dane, to the University of Kentucky campus in 1950. Only three years later, thanks to the G.I. Bill, Young was officially an engineer.
By 1956, the Young family included daughter, Marsha, and had settled in St. Louis. Such happy times, Young said. His management team offered him a new opportunity: Nations across the globe were eager for electricity too. Young’s company needed a project engineer for the power system coming to Thailand.
“Charlotte was as eager to go as I was,” he noted.
He started the Thai project alone and built a department of 68 engineers and draftsmen over four years. Young raved about the gracious Thai people and the skilled engineers.
“I still correspond with some of them,” he said.
Thai King Rama IX was scheduled to throw the master switch to the new power system at the Yanhi Dam (now Bhumibol Dam) April 17, 1964, Young said. “When he hit the switch, power would flow south into Bangkok.”
Young and his team raced to complete last-minute modifications. Then Young sat in front of the controls so no one else could touch them. “I sat there all night before the king threw the switch.”
The Young family of five — David arrived in 1958 — returned to St. Louis but soon another international opportunity arrived: power grids in Indonesia. However, this time, the Young family lived far from city conveniences. Young said Marsha stayed in Jakarta 500 miles away, living with Charlotte’s cousin, Janice, and attending the embassy school where Janice taught.
The family returned to the states after one year. Young still travelled extensively throughout the 1970s, developing power projects in Iran and Saudi Arabia.
“I tried to retire several times,” Young said of the 1980s. He and Charlotte built their retirement home on his family’s Kentucky farm plus a winter home in Florida for golfing and Young’s daily jogs. But former colleagues visited with a new idea: D. Ralph Young and Associates Engineering Company.
Young finally retired — this time for good — in 1995 at age 70. Charlotte became uncharacteristically forgetful in 2000. Young swore to himself and to God he would take care of her full time. She died in the fall of 2006.
Maybe it was time for him to give up on life, Young, 81, wondered. When Janice heard of his family’s great loss, she wrote immediately. “I understand.” Her husband had died just five months before Charlotte. She invited Young for a Christmas visit with family in Dayton where she grew up.
One visit became many, with many long phone discussions in between. One year later, they decided to marry.
It wasn’t time to give up, both said.
Continued travel
Young wrote three books about his World War II service and spoke about the war at area schools, libraries, churches and civic organizations. “I just wanted to settle in. No more travel.”
“But travelling for pleasure is different than business travel,” Janice, a veteran explorer, told him. She introduced Ralph to cruises and sightseeing. Over the next 16 years, the couple visited more than 30 countries, plus many U.S. states.
“When we drove anywhere, Ralph would point to the utility poles and tell me, ‘I put these up,‘” laughed Janice.
Life is a little bit slower at age 100, Young noted. He finally gave up jogging and exercise walking in 2018. He said he plans to get back to his home elliptical machine. It’s so important to keep going, he stressed. “Always have something to do. That’s what has helped me: My faith in God and my willingness to conquer anything I started.”
About the Author