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05.31.06 Anna Oates Legacy of Due West grocer H. M.Young lives in student award, distinguished descendants By Richard Haldeman Each May Erskine confers its highest student award, the H.M. Young Ring, upon a member of the senior class. This year's recipient, Anna Oates, is a great great granddaughter of H.M. Young, whom the award honors. This was pointed out in a letter to Dr. Don Weatherman from Anna's parents, Dr. Thomas M. (Mac) and Ruth Ratterree Oates, both members of the Erskine Class of 1976. Dr. Oates' mother, Eula Young Oates, Erskine Class of 1944, is a granddaughter of H.M. Young. But who was H.M. Young, and what did he – a Due West village grocer - contribute to Erskine making him worthy of being honored with Erskine's highest student award? His grandson, Dr. Jim Young, Class of 1942, distinguished Anderson physician who died earlier this year, answered that question in a July 20, 1991 letter to Dr. Jim Strobel, who had just completed his first year as Erskine president. The following are excerpts from Dr. Young's letter, which is in the Erskine archives. Some passages have been broken into more than one sentence, and italicized information and paragraphing have been added for clarification. “My great grandfather, Rev. John N. Young, was the first professor of mathematics at Erskine College when it opened in 1839. He built the house on Anderson Road (the historic home built in 1839 is now owned by physician and great grandson Dr. Reynolds Young, Erskine Class of 1949)….John N. Young had a good many children, one of whom was the first president of the University of Hawaii and one of whom was the local grocer of the little grocery that was a prominent part of the Main Street scene until a few years ago. "His (the grocer's) name was Henry Martin Young and he was the father of eight children, five boys and three girls. (These children were responsible for establishing the H.M. Young Ring in their father's honor.) H.M. Young's oldest son was a minister. A daughter, Dr. Florine Young, was a psychologist and head of the department of psychology of the University of Georgia for many years…. A son, Dr. Charles Young, was a physician who was at Pearl Harbor at the time of the bombing in December 1941….Two of his children were missionaries to China – Mason Pressly Young, M.D., and Miss Lois Young, a school teacher, who went out under the Presbyterian Church since the ARP Church didn't have a mission field in China. "Dr. Charles Young and Dr. Mason Young were two of three sons who were physicians. Dr. J.R. Young was my father and the father of my six sisters and one brother. (Anderson, South Carolina’s most distinguished physician of the 20th Century, Dr. J.R. Young was a civic leader and Erskine alumni leader who established the Erskine Living Endowment (Annual) Campaign in 1939.) Dr. C.H. (Charles) Young married Dr. Anne Young and practiced with my father and later with me. Dr. Mason Young served in China until 1945 when he came back to join my father in practice in Anderson. One of his (Henry Martin Young's) daughters was a nurse, and his youngest son, Dr. Reynolds Young's father, took over the running of the grocery store. H.M. Young's oldest daughter, Jane, married a cattleman in Oak Hill, Alabama, J.C. Harper. Mr. Harper was an elder in the ARP Church there, and he and Jane sponsored a missionary to Mexico from that church, W.C. Halliday (an Erskine graduate). "In 1929 H.M. Young's children established the fund for the Young Ring for (the student) who in the eyes of …fellow students and the faculty demonstrated ideals of integrity and honesty and scholarship." At the time the award was established, H.M. Young's children were living and several survived until the late 20th Century. One of the longest living of the children was Lois Young, for whom Dr. Jim Young had particular praise. He wrote to Dr. Strobel: "…Lois Young was a very intelligent and strong person whom I loved very much and whom I had the opportunity to serve as her physician and surgeon after her return from China….I remember several of her old students from China coming by to visit her. She was a deeply devout Christian and had no illusions about the role of women in the Church of Jesus Christ. "I don't know what the count is now, but in 1974, I had counted 74 direct descendants of Rev. John Young who had attended Erskine College. (Virtually all of the Young family members mentioned above are Erskine graduates.) I expect that (Jim Young's wife) Betty's family (the Henry family) has a large number also. Although not all graduated, five of our six children attended Erskine College." (Betty Henry Young completed Erskine in 1974, 28 years after leaving to attend nursing school, marry Jim, and rear the Youngs' six children.) The children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Henry Martin Young have made distinguished contributions in each generation as medical doctors, nurses, missionaries, teachers, and merchants. Now a fourth generation gives promise of continuing that tradition. The Young family has brought and continues to bring honor to Erskine College, the alma mater of scores of its members. H.M. Young's great legacy to Erskine continues not only through his descendants but through the award in his honor that challenges future generations of alumni to serve their alma mater, church and fellow men and women. |
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