Beverly June Young |
| Posted 2012-03-15 by Pat Wilson |
| Beverly June Young, 67, of Phoenix, Arizona, passed away on October 12, 2006. She was born to Harold and Evelyn Young in Hartley, Iowa, on June 14, 1939. She came to Arizona in 1947 when she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Beverly spent her first two years in Arizona at the Phoenix Crippled Children's Hospital. Then she attended Creighton Grade School and graduated from Camelback High School in 1959. There she had a remarkable high school career with a long list of activities and achievements in many fields. In 1963 Beverly received a bachelor's degree from Arizona State University with a major in early childhood education, and minors in art, music, sociology, and psychology. She was named Arizona State University's Outstanding Senior Woman of the Year in 1963. She continued her education at ASU to earn a Masters of Education degree in 1967. She continued her coursework there until she had earned the hours equivalent to a doctorate degree (less the dissertation). It was only at the end of her college career that someone suggested that the rheumatoid arthritis form which she had suffered would be a handicap in finding a reaching job. Determined to prove them wrong, she first did substitute teaching until she secured a permanent position in the Washington Elementary School District in Phoenix. She began her career teaching Special Education at Washington Elementary School. Beverly then taught at Alta Vista School and later moved once again back to Washington School. Before retiring in 1992 form a thirty year teaching career in the Washington School District, she was given numerous awards, including Teacher of the Year, the Lamp of Learning Award, and the Professional Handicapped Woman of the Year Award from Arizona and California. Beverly received recognition as a Master Teacher by the Arizona State Division of Special Education and shared her knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm with other instructors at federal workshops for teachers in Arizona and California. She also lectured on the field of special education at ASU and at Glendale Community College. Part of her legacy is the curriculums that she wrote for the special education program for the Washington School District. A talented artist, Beverly did water colors, oil painting, and fabric painting. A member of the Cactus Wren Chapter of the International Society of Decorative Painters Association, and the Watercolor Association of Arizona, Beverly often surprised and delighted her friends with paintings that she had completed especially for them. She also shared her skills with others in classes teaching fabric painting, and in the commercial work that she did for a specialty store in Scottsdale. Beverly was and continues to be such an inspiration as a talented, generous, caring person to all who knew her. Although these achievements would be remarkable under any circumstances, Beverly is an example of someone who achieves the seemingly impossible because no one who mattered bothered to tell her that her dream was impossible to realize. When she first heard that her arthritis might be a handicap, she had already set herself along a career path from which she did not intend to deviate. Fortunately for all of the pupils whose lives she touched, Beverly had more faith in the support she received from her family, friends and teachers at formative times in her life than in the less optimistic opinions that were expressed later. Beverly is preceded in death by her father and mother, Harold and Evelyn Young. She is survived by her sister, Connie Young, her aunts and uncles, Violet and Conley Kuehl of Arkansas, and Janice and Morris Palan of Minnesota, and her numerous cousins. Donations may be made to Special Olympics of Arizona, 1850 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85004, and to the Arthritis Foundation, 1313 E. Osborn Road, Phoenix, AZ 85014. The Visitation and funeral services were at Green Acres Mortuary, 401 N. Hayden Road, Scottsdale. Published in The Arizona Republic on 10/18/2006. |
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