~ IN MEMORY ~
Military veteran, PAA/DL Capt. Gordon F. Young
July 4, 1937 ~ April 30, 2023
Notice of passing….retired Pan Am/Delta pilot
Captain Gordon Forrest Young, age 85.
Captain Young joined Pan American World Airways 02-14-1966 and retired
with Delta Air Lines.
Obituary
: Gordon F. Young
https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/gordon-young-obituary?id=52484252
Gordon F Young Jr, age 85, of Skillman, NJ, passed
away, suddenly and unexpectedly, on April 30, 2023. He was born in Troy, NY on
July 4, 1937, to Ruth and Gordon Young Sr. He was joined by two sisters,
Priscilla and Judy, in the following years. After grade school in Ardsley, NY,
he graduated from Mount Hermon School for Boys in Gill, Massachusetts, in 1955,
and the University of Rochester in Rochester, NY, in 1959. Upon his graduation
in 1959, Gordon entered the United States Marine Corps, where he served for
seven years, and received an honorable discharge as Aviation Captain. After
this, he spent several years in the Yukon and Northwest Territories of Canada
as a bush pilot, assisting prospectors and scientists with their work.
From there, he pivoted into commercial aviation,
and began an exciting and successful career as an international airline pilot
for Pan-American World Airways, and later, Delta Airlines. He began with Pan Am
on Valentines Day 1966, as a Navigator on the Boeing 707 Airplane, using the
ancient art of celestial navigation to navigate the skies. During the Vietnam
War, Gordon was assigned to assist the military by flying supplies on Pan Am
aircraft to Vietnam. In his 42 year career, Gordon advanced from Flight
Navigator, to First Officer, to Captain, and had ratings on many different
aircraft, including B707, B747, B727, B737, B767, DC8 and L1011. He had an
illustrious 42 year career as an international Pan Am and Delta Airlines
Captain. Gordon is and was one of the few pilots remaining from "the
Golden Age of Air Travel."
Work, life and play took him to many parts of the
world. Gordon lived in quite a few- and shared interesting stories about all of
them! He commuted from Queens, San Francisco, Mt. Tamalpais in Mill Valley, CA
and Southport, CT to pilot 747s out of JFK Airport. In 1969, he contracted
Cheoy Lee of Hong Kong to build the 36' ketch sailboat, AUM, and deliver her to
FL. Gordon docked AUM in the Bahamas, a frequent destination for his mother, stepfather,
and many friends who enjoyed exciting and amusing boating holidays. He lived in
New York, San Francisco, off his sail boat in the Bahamas, in Berlin, Germany,
and eventually settled in Lawrenceville, and later Skillman, NJ.
Gordon's big passion was hunting, a hobby since
childhood. He went on many hunting trips all over the United States, in
Germany, and Argentina. A nature-lover at heart, he and his dog were always
planning their next outdoor adventure. Gordon even completed the German hunting
license, the Jaegerbrief in Germany and was subsequently invited to a German
Hunt. He began hunting as a young man with his father in upstate New York, and
didn't stop until his last hunting trip in Arizona at the age of 85.
After retiring, Gordon was also actively involved
in social services as a friend and mentor to many in the community. He
volunteered with Stanford Rescue Squad in Stanford, NY; the Juvenile Conference
Committees of New Jersey in Lawrenceville, NJ, and did dog therapy with his
hunting dog, Adal, at Morris Hall, also in Lawrenceville, NJ.
Gordon was also a loving husband and father. He
married his college sweetheart, Wendy Faber in 1960, and they welcomed a
daughter Annette together. In 1975, Gordon married his second wife Maria, and
spent fifteen years together. In that time, they designed and built a passive
solar house in the 1980s in upstate New York, a mostly unknown concept at the
time. In 1991, Gordon married his third wife, Heidi, and later that year, their
daughter Jennifer was born. Gordon's family had many branches, but he always
made sure to keep in touch and let his loved ones know he cared about them;
many of his friends and family members remarked that they had "just
spoken" to him prior to his passing. He especially enjoyed connecting with
his daughters Annette and Jennifer, whom he spoke to every night.
Gordon is survived by daughters Annette Czack
(Jim) of Loudon, NH and Jennifer Young (George Athanail) of Brooklyn, NY;
grandchildren Langdon Tarbell (Molly) of Lee, NH and Josie Toepfer (Owen) of
Phoenix, AZ, and great grandson Lawrence Toepfer.; sisters Judy Townsend of
Guttenburg, NJ and Tonbridge, England and Priscilla Mathews Young of
Minneapolis, MN. Gordon lived a remarkable and fruitful life and made a
difference for many.
Memorial services will be held Saturday, July 22,
2023, from 1-4 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 50 Cherry Hill Road,
Princeton, New Jersey 08540-7626. Service begins at 1:15pm.
Please RSVP via link Paperless post link https://pp.events/aad7YM4x , or to
Jennifer Young, 929-393-9898, with questions.
