Rev. Ronald Young 


Sacramento, Calif.

The Rev. Ronald E. Young, 61, of Sacramento, Calif., died Jan. 11, 2011, at his home in Sacramento, Calif., after complications from strokes.

Mass of Christian Burial and celebration of life will be 11 a.m. Saturday, June 18, at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Corning. Father Joe Wolf of LeClaire will officiate. Interment will be in Calvary Cemetery in Corning. Pearson-Coen-Beaty Family Funeral Service, 701 Seventh St., Corning, is in charge of arrangements. Memorials may be directed to Hospice of Southwest Iowa in Corning. Online condolences may be left at www.pearsonfuneralhomes.com.

Ronald E. Young, son of Mary Catherine (Kennedy) and Harold L. Young, was born Aug. 18, 1949, in Creston.

Ron attended Mount Zion No. 7 grade school in rural Adams County and graduated from Prescott High School in 1967.

Ron attended the University of Iowa, graduating in 1971, and then entered Theological College seminary at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.

On May 24, 1975, Ron was ordained a Catholic priest by the Most Rev. Gerald O’Keefe, Bishop of the Davenport Diocese, at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Corning, his family’s parish.

He served the Davenport diocese, including parishes in Iowa City, Ottumwa, Eddyville, Charlotte, Villa Nova, Farmington, String Prairie and Clinton. Ron also served as a liturgical campus minister at Loyola University in Chicago.

In 2004, Ron received his Doctor of Psychology in Organizational Development from Alliant International University in Fresno, Calif. He worked with several companies as a consultant and coach, as well as having his own consulting company.

Ron was presently an organizational strategy consultant and human resource strategist at CPS Human Resource Services in Sacramento, Calif. Ron also taught organizational development master’s program courses for Alliant International University and the University of San Francisco.

Ron is survived by his brother Douglas Richard (wife Deborah) Young of Snoqualmie, Wash.; sister Catherine Ann Young (friend Kathy Keifer) of North Liberty; nephews, Christopher (wife Michele)Young of Maple Valley, Wash., and Brandon (wife Sandi) Young of Edmonds, Wash.; nieces, Rosemary and April Young of Snoqualmie, Wash.; great-nieces, Noelle and Lauren Young; aunts and uncles, Bernard and Marjorie Kennedy, Edward and Carla Kennedy, Louis and Kay Kennedy and Richard and Carol Kennedy; numerous cousins and many friends; including special friends, Jeff and Suzanna Hoye of Sacramento, Calif., who cared for Ron as he worked to recover from his strokes, and Isaac, his dog.

Ron was preceded in death by his parents; grandparents, Walter and Ethel Young and James and Berenice Kennedy; uncles and aunts, Carl and Maxine Stewart, Lloyd and Marjorie Young, Dorothy Beard and Billy Cooper and James Kennedy; and cousin Mark Kennedy.