Philip Young

Obituary

Philip Christopher Young, Chris as everyone called him, was born on January 29th, 1951 in Ashland, Kentucky. He was 73 years old when he passed on October 18th, 2024. He is survived by his wife, Barbara Lewis Young, his daughters Emily Young (Jim Pearl), Kathryn Young (Mark Cahill), Amy Young (Michah Daniel), grandchildren Georgina and Jack Cahill, and his sister Lauren Detzel (Al Haliday). Chris and Barb made their home in New Smyrna Beach, Florida. Christ attended the University of Louisville obtaining his bachelor’s degree then joining the Air Force. While in the Air Force Chris obtained his master’s degree through Troy University. After the Air Force, Chris began a decades long career in Human Resources. Those are the basics, but Chris was far from basic.

He lived a life many of us hope to enjoy. After retiring from the Beam Brands at age 60, he decided retirement wasn’t yet for him and found his “retirement gig” as a zipline guide at the Louisville Mega Cavern. He enjoyed several years sharing his love of adventure and adrenaline activities with hundreds of participants. From there, he finally gave in to his enduring wanderlust and convinced Barb to sell their home in July 2014 and travel internationally for 7 months. They spent over a month in Hawaii and then on to Australia and New Zealand. Along the way, they ranked the beaches by one simple question – Could you live here? That was the question Chris asked Barb at every new beach town they explored. That sounds amazing for a lifetime trip, but Chris wasn’t done there.

After returning to the US in the summer of 2015 a new dream was unlocked…and they purchased a RV to begin a year long tour of the US visiting dozens of National Parks and Monuments. After 18 months on the road, Barb declared it was time to settle down a bit, tucked the RV in storage and arrived on the sunny beaches of the East Coast Florida in 2017. They bought a house in New Smyrna Beach and there Chris quickly acclimated to suburban life, with a beachy twist. He enjoyed riding his scooter to the beach and grabbing a taco or burger from one of his favorite local spots or kayaking with the manatees at Manatee Cove on the Indian River Lagoon in the cooler months.

One of his favorite pastimes was spending time with his two grandkids. He would spend hours crawling on the floor with them or giving numerous piggyback rides. Helping others, and being of service, was how he chose to spend his life. That endeavor took many forms; form assisting his sister with home projects to fielding calls from his daughters with “how do I do this” questions. He was well known for helping his neighbors with technology questions, small appliance repairs, and the occasional yard work.

Chris prided himself on organization. He had a bag, zip tie, or hook for everything! One of his favorite claims was the ability to flip a few switches and be out of the New Smyrna Beach house in 30 minutes to travel the globe.

Chris was kind, supportive, loving, loyal and always curious. He was loved by everyone who met him and will be greatly missed. The world lost an amazing human this October.

A celebration of his amazing life is being planned for January 2025 in Louisville, KY. Additional details will be published closer to that time.

The family requests those who wish to express their sympathy to consider making a donation in his name to the University of Louisville Health – Brown Cancer Center.
https://give.uoflhealthfoundation.org/in-memory/young or UofL Health – Brown Cancer Center, Attn: Kara Salsman – Philanthropy, 529 S. Jackson Street, Louisville, KY 40202.