In Memory of

Jean

Born

Young

(

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Life Story for Jean Born Young ( )

Jean Marie Born Young, 92, died peacefully in Raleigh, NC on Sunday, April 30, 2017. She had moved from her home of over fifty years in Atchison, Kansas to Cary, NC three years ago for medical care and to have the assistance of her family.
Jean Marie Born Young, was born on her paternal grandparents’ farm in 1924, in Morland Kansas (Graham County) and was the older of two children born to Doris Mattingly Born and Bert H. Born. Her parents met in college, and when her father, who was an industrial arts teacher and football coach at the high school in Altoona, Kansas, died unexpectedly in 1931 from a ruptured appendix, Jean moved with her mother and brother, B.H. Born, back to Osawatomie, KS, to stay with her maternal parents, L.V. and Christine Mattingly, long-time residents of Miami County.
Jean lived in Osawatomie and Paola, Kansas while her mother worked as a specialty teacher of art, penmanship and music and social worker in Paola, Colby, and Atwood. Her mother later moved to Medicine Lodge for a social work position in Barber County, Kansas.
Jean enjoyed taking piano lessons and tap danced with the Catfish Band while she was in elementary school. She went to middle school in Atwood, Kansas for 7th grade and Augusta, Kansas for 8th grade, but she returned to Paola, Kansas and graduated from high school in 1942, as president of her senior class.
When she first moved to Lawrence to attend K.U. in 1942, she rented a room from Miss Esther Twente, who was the head of the social work department at the University of Kansas and a friend of her mother. Years later, Jean was asked to share her memories of Miss Twente when the School of Social Work Hall at the University of Kansas was named after Miss Twente.
It was also at K.U. that Jean met her husband, Dr. Charles H. Young, and developed her life-long favorite form of recreation: watching the Jayhawk basketball team, which was anchored by her brother, B.H. Born. He was an All-American player who played for K.U. from 1952-54, was inducted into the Kansas Athletic Hall of Fame, and was an NCAA Tournament Most Valuable Player. Even family members knew not to call and interrupt Jean during televised K.U. basketball games.
Jean graduated from the University of Kansas as an undergraduate in 1946 and worked at the University of Kansas Medical Center for 3 years before returning to school and receiving her MSW from K.U. in 1951. She was the Director of Social Work at the University of Kansas Medical Center before she left to establish psychiatric services as the first clinical social worker at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.
Jean and Chuck married in 1951. When he finished medical school, they moved to Atchison, Kansas, and he started a family practice in 1953. They had a daughter, Julie, and a son, Brett.
At the time of their move to Atchison in 1953, Jean and Chuck found they suddenly had no place to live when their apartment was rented to someone else, so they bought a “fixer-upper” at 314 Q Street overlooking the river. They scraped tons of old wallpaper and hauled mounds of trash that the previous owners had hoarded. Jean enjoyed starting her antique collection in their house with its 12 foot ceilings, and they moved to their present home in 1960.
Jean worked in Chuck’s office in the old professional building on Commercial Street to help start his practice during a time when his office visits cost only seven dollars. After the flood of 1958, Chuck moved his practice and built the office building at 1301 North Third Street in partnership with Dr. Wayne Wallace, Sr., where Chuck practiced for more than forty years until his retirement in 1994. Jean held her private counseling sessions there, and they will both be remembered for their passion for helping others.
Jean and Chuck joined the Atchison United Methodist Church in 1955, and Jean was active during her 60 years of membership in many different areas of service. Combining family duties, church, and other community service, she was also a charter member of the Atchison Day Care Center, a charter member of the National Association of Social Workers, a 50 year member of Chapter FT of PEO, and a life member of the Academy of Clinical Social Workers.
Jean was one of the longest practicing clinical social workers in Kansas. In addition to her private practice, Jean worked for ten years as a clinical social worker at the Northeast Community Guidance Clinic in Leavenworth, Kansas, and she continued to work part-time as a social worker at the Dialysis unit and the Atchison Hospital, Hospice, and the Atchison County Health Department. She took pride in conducting parenting classes and in doing adoption studies.
She also conducted a long-running bereavement support group for over 20 years, which only stopped when she was 90 and she moved to NC. She continued to value the stimulation of the work, the affection and respect of her clients and colleagues, and the relationships she developed which continue to this day.
She was a world traveler and started the first travel business in Atchison. She hosted annual summer travel groups to fifty countries over the course of two decades. She went to many countries multiple times. She brought her social skills to the travel business, as she held group meetings for members to get together before and after trips, replaced lost passports, dealt with misplaced luggage, trip delays, and illness, all with grace and humor.
She was also an amateur artist, a founding member of the Atchison Art Association, and served on the Riverbend Art Fair board for 25 years. She loved hosting the annual art fairs on the mall in Atchison.
Preceding her in death were her parents, her husband of 45 years, Dr. Charles H. Young, of Atchison who died in September, 1998, and her brother, B.H. Born, in February, 2013. She leaves behind her daughter, Julie Young Bell and husband, Tom, grandchildren Abby and Whitney Bell of Cary, NC; and her son, Brett H. Young and wife, Deborah, and grandchildren, Katie Young and husband, Andrew Kline, and Ryan Young of Lawrence, KS.
Jean was devoted to her family, dedicated to her social work profession and clients over sixty years of practice, generous with her efforts to support the Atchison United Methodist Church and other community services , a gracious ambassador as she led groups around the world, and courageous, especially in dealing with the health problems she faced later in life. She will be greatly missed not only by her immediate family, but also by her many loving relatives and friends, whom she dearly treasured.
The family will receive visitors Tuesday night, May 23, from 7-9 pm at Becker-Dyer-Stanton Mortuary, 800 Kansas Avenue, Atchison, KS 66002 and after the service at the Atchison Methodist Church.
A memorial service will be held at 1 pm at the Atchison United Methodist Church, 501 Kansas Ave, Atchison, KS on Wednesday, May 24, 2017. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Atchison United Methodist Church.