Gary Lee Young, 62

Gary Lee Young, 62, beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, cousin and friend passed away peacefully at home on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015, after a 10-month battle with lymphoma.

Gary was born April 22, 1952, in Oklahoma City, Okla., the second of four children to Robert and Kathleen Young. An avid baseball fan and Little League pitcher, he had the opportunity to play wherever the military took his family - from Tacoma, Wash., to Japan. Gary's early high school years were spent in Washington, D.C., during the civil rights movement. Some of his fondest memories were summer visits with his grandparents and cousins here in Coeur d'Alene.

Throughout his college years, Gary worked alongside his uncle George at Young's Nursery in Hayden. He attended North Idaho College and the University of Idaho, graduating in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in landscape architecture. His career took him full-circle from Post Falls to Alaska to California and back again to Post Falls, where he served as the Community Development Director. He served as a past president of the Post Falls Rotary Club. Most recently, Gary was the principal landscape architect at Verdis, a landscape architecture/land use planning company that he and Sandy founded.

Gary loved the natural environment, and he and Sandy traveled worldwide to experience all forms of it - whether kayaking, biking or hiking. He had a deep reverence and respect for God's creation.

Gary and Sandy were fortunate enough to have visited many different forms of the landscape - whether rafting Hells Canyon with their dear friends Collin and Holly Coles, to hiking the Na Pali Coast with daughter Lindsey and son-in-law Greg, to biking the coast of Scotland and the Isle of Mull. A spring and fall weekend fishing trip on the St. Joe River at Red Ives was always an annual favorite.

Gary loved landscape design, and after purchasing the Rodkey homestead off Greensferry Road in Cougar Gulch established in the 1940s, he and Sandy spent the next 13 years implementing his design work. Longtime friends Bob and Heidi Droll will see his last unfinished project to completion.

Golfing, fishing, bicycling, kayaking, horseback riding, playing his guitar, traveling, and history were his pastimes. If you were lucky enough to enjoy a good barn party with him at Sangar, you were lucky enough.

Gary was the grandpa that was always up for a summer sleepover in the bunkhouse or a ride in the bucket of the tractor. He was a lover of life, a believer of God, a father that loved unconditionally.

Gary leaves his wife Sandy; his children Greg Young and Lindsey Edwards; his stepchildren Michael Fischer, Colin Meehan, and Molly Mazzuca; eight grandchildren; siblings Mike and Janice Young, Jim and Anne Young - all of Hayden, and Aron and Debbie Bennett of Coeur d'Alene; many nieces, nephews, cousins and countless friends.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 16, at Real Life Ministries building two, 1866 N. Cecil Road, Post Falls. Reception to follow in the Fellowship Hall.

Please sign Gary's registry and view his online memorial at www.englishfuneralchapel.com.