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18 March 2004
Sudbury Typographical
Union | TNG
Canada Local 30846
George Young
Long-time Star employee dead
at 63
By Bob Vaillancourt
The Sudbury Star
His own life was wracked with devastating
personal tragedy, but that didn’t stop George Young
from reaching out to help others.
Young died Wednesday of cancer. He was 63.
A compositor at The
Sudbury Star for more than 30 years,
Young was also a leader of the union local and a long-time
volunteer in his home community of Valley East.
“When you talk about people who have gone through
a lot, God he had his share,” said Young’s good
friend and co-worker Brian Fletcher.
Young’s son, David, took his
own life as a teenager. A decade or so later, son Philip
was killed in a helicopter crash during a military training
exercise in British Columbia.
A few years ago, he lost his wife, Dorothy, to illness.
Despite it all Young remained “very upbeat,” said
long time-friend Tom Whiteside.
He always was concerned with the
other person, never himself, said Whiteside. “He
was always there to help you out. If you needed a hand,
he was there to help.”
George Young was a Past-President (1981-2000) of the Sudbury Typographical
Union. He served on the executive for
more than 20 years.
In spite of his role as a union leader, Young was never
one to be confrontational, said Fletcher.
“He was one of these people that hated to get into
an argument. He would rather just walk away from it. Of all
the years that I worked with him, I can’t remember
him saying a nasty word about anybody. He always had something
good to say.”
He would always “look for something positive, for
some common ground, rather than argue,” said Whiteside.
Community volunteer
His leadership wasn’t limited
to the union hall.
Young was also a leader in his community, coaching both
high school football and hockey.
“George was a good friend, and a tremendous volunteer
in Valley East for minor sports,” said Ron Dupuis,
city councillor for the area.
“He was an individual who suffered a lot of tragedy
in his life,” said Dupuis, but despite it all he “was
a very good person.”
Whiteside, who played hockey with
Young for “30 some
years,” said they spent a lot of time hunting and fishing
as well. “He was involved in sports all the time,” he
said.
Young was devoted to his grandchildren in both Barrie and
in Comox, B.C., said Whiteside.
Young is survived by his second wife, Pierrette Gray of
Hanmer, by his daughter Danielle Driscoll of Barrie, his
grandchildren Ryan, Nathan, Zachary and Sean and by his sister
Judy Doolan of Sydney, N.S., and his brother, Kenneth, of
Halifax, N.S.
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