Betty Jean (BJ) Gilmer Young, 170 Kendal Drive, Lexington, Virginia, died on March 9, 2022 at the age of 92.
She was the leavening of her extended family and of her many communities, continually reaching out with loving care for those in need at home and around the world. She jointly conceived, nurtured and let rise three community-based enterprises: the New School in Blacksburg, Virginia, the Valley Natural Food Coop in Burnsville, Minnesota, and Ten Thousand Villages in Billings, Montana, two of which serve their communities to this day.
She was known for fresh-baked bread and dinner rolls, nourishing those around her through word and deed while preaching about Jesus Christ as the bread of life.
Betty Jean was the first female in a line of eight generations of pastors and missionaries. Her father, Dr. William "Billy" Gilmer, was a missionary in Korea in the 1920s and later the first radiologist at the C&O Hospital in Clifton Forge, VA. Her mother, Helen Newman Gilmer, was an active member of the Clifton Forge Presbyterian Church.
Born in Clifton Forge, Virginia in 1929, Betty Jean majored in English at Mary Baldwin College (now University), where she had her writing published in the school literary magazine and lettered in five sports. She received a Master's in Religious Education from Princeton Theological Seminary. While at Princeton, she was swept off her feet by Philip H. Young, with whom she shared 65 years of a marriage grounded in their ministry to the church and the world at large.
After a career as a Christian educator and preschool teacher, Betty Jean returned to the classroom to obtain a Master's in Divinity from San Francisco Seminary and was ordained at the age of 61 as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (USA).
For the next 25 years, she was called to serve numerous congregations as interim and/or supply pastor in California, Washington, and Virginia.
Upon their retirement to Kendal at Lexington in 2008, she and Phil joined Shenandoah Presbytery in the Synod of the Mid-Atlantic. Betty Jean served area congregations as supply pastor while regularly leading worship and Bible study within the Kendal community.
In 2013, Betty Jean received the Mary Baldwin Alumni Association's "Service to Community of Faith" Award for her lifetime of discipleship. She brought her Christian faith into everything she did. Her passion, compassion, energy, love of God, and outgoing nature led to strong relationships and success throughout her life. She always downplayed her own significance while rallying others around shared goals. For the countless people whose lives she touched, she excelled in her roles as daughter, sister, wife, mother, teacher, preacher, and serial entrepreneur. But first and foremost, Betty Jean thought of herself as a devoted servant of Jesus Christ.
Betty Jean was preceded in death by her husband, Philip H. Young, and her sister, Kathryn Newman Gilmer.
She is survived by her sister, Blair Meeks; children, Beth, Gil, Becca, and Stephen Young; daughters-in-law, Janet Krueger and Sara Young; and six grandchildren, Courtenay, Quinn, Ben, Martha, Nicholas, and Lucas.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests you send your dough to Bread for the World https://bread.org.
A memorial service is planned for the summer of 2022, with details to follow.
Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine.
Arrangements are being handled by Bolling, Grose & Lotts Funeral Home.
