Kenneth Wendell Young

KENNETH WENDELL YOUNG

Keosauqua

Kenneth Wendell Young, 90, of Keosauqua, IA, died at 11:00 a.m. Thursday, September 30, 2021, at Parkview Care Center in Fairfield where he had resided since January 2021. Visitation was at Pedrick Funeral Home in Keosauqua from 12 to 2 p.m. on Monday, October 4, 2021. Funeral services followed at 2:00 p.m. Burial will be at Fellows Cemetery with military honors by Beer-Barker Post 113 American Legion. Gifts to a memorial to be decided later by the family may be left at the funeral home or mailed to the family at P.O. Box 516, Keosauqua, IA 52565. A light lunch will be served at the United Methodist Church in Keosauqua following the cemetery service.

Kenneth, better known as "Brigham," was born March 27, 1931, to Elmer Roscoe and Faith Evelyn Palmer Young. He was born at home in the rural area of Crawfordsville, IA. His parents later moved to West Chester, IA, where Brigham grew up and graduated from West Chester High School. Brigham played basketball on the first team all 4 years of high school, traveling with his teammates to the state tournament his freshman year. He became good at the long shots because he spent lots of time outside shooting baskets when his family was quarantined with scarlet fever. He would have been a 3-point shooter in today's world! He continued his love for basketball playing the game at the YMCA in Washington until he was about 40 years old. Brigham loved music and loved dancing to music too. His favorite dance was the Polka and he loved twirling his partner around corners with this dance. He had fond memories of standing around the piano and singing while his mother played the piano "by ear". After Brigham graduated from high school, he joined the Army National Guard. He was proud of his service to our country and served for 33 years. His primary specialty was entitled an Interior Electrician. He was the Communications Sargent as the radioman for his guard unit. Doing this he was involved in a lot of operations and confidential information. During his service he received medals including a Communications Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Overseas Training Medal, Non-Commissioned Officer Professional Development Medal, and a specialty medal for service during Desert Storm. He was sent to Oklahoma for Radio Training for the position he held as Radio Communications Operator. While he was there, he learned about a training session for Television Operations. He enrolled in the class, and this led to him getting in the TV business, selling TVs and doing repairs. In the days when TVs were repaired, he probably knew more about that field and how to repair a TV than most people knew existed. He had books that were for troubleshooting ideas about what the diagnosis was for a successful repair. He owned and operated his own TV business- selling TVs as well as repairing them. RCA TVs were his special brand in the early days. In those days a dealer could earn trips for rewards for their sales to places like Hawaii, Mexico, etc. He was involved with TV work for over 60 years. During some of these years, he also sold washers and dryers and even owned and operated a restaurant business for a period of time.

Bernadine and Brigham knew each other for over 70 years as he worked for her parents, Alex and Corda Livesay, as a teenager on their farm in Jefferson County near Fairfield. Her father injured his back, and it was time to put in crops. He was not able to do anything for most of that summer. Brigham was 17 years old, but became her mother's hero because he went to work like an adult putting in crops and attending to the livestock chores. With 6 children and an 8th grade education, she had her hands full. He came the next summer and worked the same way. Forty some years later Bernadine was divorces and they renewed acquaintances at a dance in Fairfield. Brigham married Colleen Strum on December 31, 1949. They later divorced. Born to this union were his two daughters, Wendelleen Young McCracken (Paul) of Warsas, MO, and Lorall Young Sayre (Dale) of Washington. Also surviving are two grandsons, Jeramie Dean McCracken of Iowa City and Ken Rya McCracken (Kelly) of Warsas, MO; plus one great-granddaughter, Eva Marie Pauline McCracken of Washington, IA.

Also left to cherish his memory is his significant other and caretaker when his health declined, Bernadine Livesay Barker and her family that includes two sons, Robert Barker Sr. and Randy Barker; two grandsons, Jacob Ryne Barker and Robert Andrew Barker Jr.; and one granddaughter, Rachel Tafoll. He is also survived by two sisters, Sylvia Miller of Kalona, Viola Karr of Wayland; one brother, Jim Young (Lorene) of rural Iowa City; one brother-in-law, Bill Carson of Chariton; and many nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents; by brothers, Eugene Young (in WWII), Arlo Young and Keith Young; five sisters, Charlotte Lemely, Neala Gonterman, Sandra Young (stillborn), Wanda Biereton and Pay Pat Carson; also, Bernadine's eldest son, Ryne Allen Barker.