Bank manager from Hampton loved the simple things
If Jay Youngs said he'd do something, he got it done the right way.
"When there was a choice to be made between expedience and being thorough, he chose the thorough way," said his son, Christopher Youngs of Cochranton. "He taught me about honesty and integrity. He let me know that the honest route is the one you have to take every time."
Jay R. Youngs of Hampton died of cancer on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2011, in UPMC St. Margaret near Aspinwall. He was 78.
After graduating from Texas A&M University in 1954, Mr. Youngs served in the Army for 10 years. He left the service with the rank of captain and attended Purdue University, where he earned a master's degree in economics in 1965. He was a member of Meadville High School's Class of 1950.
His son said the family moved at least six times before he was in the fourth grade, but finally settled in Hampton in June 1965 when Mr. Youngs took a job as a bank manager for the former Pittsburgh National Bank. He managed the Downtown branch on Penn Avenue and later the Homestead office and the West View office. He retired in 1995, 12 years after a merger that formed what is now PNC Bank.
"He was a great guy. All the people who worked for him said he was a great boss," said his wife of 58 years, Nancy Youngs.
His daughter, Caroline Hunzeker of Richland, remembered a customer at the Homestead branch knitting dolls for her dad to bring home to her.
Mr. Youngs was an avid hunter and fisherman. He loved to camp in the woods of Ludlow, McKean County, and take his family on fishing trips to Canada.
"They were a tremendous amount of fun," Christopher Youngs said. "The people he was with usually caught more fish than he did. He didn't really care, it was being with people he loved in a wilderness setting."
Hunzeker recalled her father saying many times that he wished he could have retired to the Ludlow camp.
"It's very rustic. There's no running water, and he never wanted to change that," she said. "He wanted it to be simple."
In addition to his wife, Nancy, daughter, Caroline, and son, Christopher, Mr. Youngs is survived by a son, Michael Youngs of Meadville, and seven grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his brothers, Wallace and Gerald Youngs.
Visitation will be from 9 to 11 a.m. today in Herbert R. King Jr. Funeral Home, 2841 Woodland Circle, Hampton. A memorial service will follow in the funeral home.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Hampton United Presbyterian Church, 2942 E. Hardies Road, Gibsonia, PA 15044; or to the Hampton Community Library, 3101 McCully Road, Allison Park, PA 15101.
