Marilyn Joy Young

Marilyn Joy (Burneo) Young was born in Flint Michigan on June 8th,1937. In the 1940’s, her family moved to Tucson, Arizona for the health of her mother and siblings. While she missed her big family in Michigan, she thrived in Arizona; she was active in student government, her church, played softball and sang in choirs. She graduated from Tucson High School in 1955 and the University of Arizona in 1959. She was a lifetime U of A sports fan (Bear Down!), enjoying football and basketball season tickets in her later years, even traveling to away games and tournaments. She died in a tragic car accident in Tucson on July 30, 2025, leaving behind her mourning family and tons of friends in Tucson and across the country.

Marilyn moved to California with her first husband in the 1960’s, raising her children and teaching, first as an elementary educator and later as a special education teacher and, finally, as a beloved principal in the Irvine Unified School District. She cared deeply not only for her family, students, and staff but for her community, where she served as a Girl Scout troop leader, sang in the church choir, and led the first Planning Commission in Irvine, after it was incorporated as a city in 1971, among her many community activities.

After her first marriage ended in divorce in the 1980’s, Marilyn pursued her second master’s degree in psychology with an emphasis on marriage and family while continuing her career as a principal. She met the love of her life (a set up by her church’s pastor), Garth Young, and they married six months’ later in 1993. Soon after, she retired from being a principal and they moved back to Tucson, reconnecting with family and old friends, joining Catalina Foothills Church (and, of course, the choir) and traveling with Garth. Luckily their grandkids got the benefit of their camping phase and toured the Grand Canyon as well as other sites around the Southwest.

After Garth died in 2011, Marilyn counseled, volunteered and taught bible study at her church and Gospel Rescue Mission (she loved and was proud of her “girls” there). A woman of deep faith, she was always learning and seeking and believed in living life to its fullest. At 88 she had the energy of a woman half her age. She will be missed but we know that she has been reunited in heaven with her sweetheart Garth and their little Schnoodle, Snickers.

A celebration of life will be held in Marilyn’s honor at Catalina Foothills Church on Sunday, October 12,2025 at 3:00 p.m. If you wish to make a donation in her memory, please consider Gospel Rescue Mission (https://grmtucson.com/contact-us/), Arizona Public Media (https://www.pbs.org/show/arizona-public-media/), or the Humane Society of Southern Arizona (https://hssaz.org )