At 100 years old, Ralph Young knows quite a bit about what it takes to lead a long and happy life, even amid hardship and when faced with the unexpected.
In 1943, Young, just 18 at the time, enlisted in the U.S. Navy, getting ahead of an expected draft notice, and served in World War II.
“I remember my mom sitting on the front porch, tears streaming down her cheeks,” he said in an interview with Dayton Daily News. “She told me, ‘Everything is going to be alright, Ralph.’ I knew she was going to watch over me.”
While Young was serving the country, his mom passed away.
Young grew up in Kentucky as the youngest of 11 children. The family lived in a home without electricity or running water, but had a garden and even canned their own food, which they sold in their town of Greasy Ridge.
At 10 years old, Young became responsible for the family’s laundry and cooking. He calls it his first job. He had to make meals, lift heavy loads of laundry and hand-wash clothes in a nearby spring. It was a duty that his father assigned to him after his mom’s mobility was impacted by a stroke.
Even now, Young recalls the bright side of the strenuous work — spending much of his day at home with his mom.
“With all that time together, my mother and I got close,” he said.
You can do a lot of things you don’t think you can do.
Ralph Young
Centenarian, World War II Veteran
Young was discharged from the Navy in 1946, returned to his hometown and married his first wife, Charlotte the following year. The couple went on to have three kids together.
In the mid-50s, the implementation of electricity was expanding around the world, and the company Young worked for as an engineer needed someone to lead a team who would develop a power system in Thailand. Young jumped at the opportunity to move his family overseas.
“Charlotte was as eager to go as I was,” he told the Ohio-based publication.
Young and his family lived in Asia for several years, including a move when he was assigned to a project in Indonesia. And even after returning to the United States, Young traveled to places like Saudi Arabia and Iran for work. He officially retired at 70 years old.
In 2000, Charlotte’s health began to falter, he said. She was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and died six years later.
While grieving, Young — 81 years old at the time — contemplated if it was time to quit on life. But he wasn’t done just yet.
When it comes to longevity, his philosophy is, “Always have something to do. That’s what has helped me,” he said. “My faith in God and my willingness to conquer anything I started.”
Young eventually remarried. He reconnected with his wife Janice — who he’d first met 40 years prior — when she reached out to him after he lost his first wife. She wrote “I understand,” after hearing about his loss; she lost her husband five months before Charlotte passed.
Always have something to do.
Ralph Young
Centenarian, World War II Veteran
After Janice invited Young over for Christmas one year, the pair began seeing each other often and talking all the time. Soon, they decided to get married.
“You can do a lot of things you don’t think you can do,” Young said.
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