Phillip E. Young

12/5/1937 — 2/23/2020

Service Date: 2/29/2020
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Phillip Edward Young passed Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020, in Coeur d’Alene.

Born Dec. 5, 1937, to Violet and John Young in Kamiah, Phil grew up in Woodland and Kamiah, helping on his family’s ranch. He met his forever wife, Bonnie (Young) McCall, in high school. They were married Nov. 12, 1955, at age 17. They loved dancing together, and he squeezed her hand every night before they fell asleep, and held it while they slept, until he lost Bonnie in 2017 to a brain aneurism 10 days before their 62nd anniversary.

Phil was an Idaho state policeman for several years before switching to driving truck. He would haul lumber from Kamiah to Weippe for 30 years. He bought his first truck in 1966, then a second and third truck, before selling Phil Young Trucking and retiring at the age of 62. His grandchildren “helped” with the business, washing the trucks during the summer for $10 a truck — a lucrative offer for 8- and 9-year-olds.

Phil and Bonnie had three kids together: Cindy, Mike and Kathy; six grandchildren, Lacey, Dana, Jess, Cody, Chrissy and Wyatt; and 13 great-grandchildren. Phil and Bonnie loved watching their children and grandchildren play sports; traveling to Alaska to see Kathy and her family; buying son-in-law Stan dinner just so he could gloat over his “free-loading” son-in-law (who in turn called him lovingly Freddy the Freeloader); four-wheeling in Dixie; getting coffee in the morning at JJ’s with his longtime Kamiah friends; winters in Quartzsite, Ariz., at Koffa Mountain RV Park with their good group of friends; and taking his grandkids trout fishing. Some of his granddaughters’ fondest memories are on the creeks near Idaho, calling “Grandpa, fish!” while he ran back and forth trying to wrangle three girls, rods, fish and worms.

Phil was a fighter and stubborn as a mule to the very end while he battled kidney failure, a subsequent kidney transplant, Bonnie’s passing and many other health setbacks. His family could not be prouder of the fight he put up to his very last day. At 3:30 p.m. Feb. 23 after nearly a decade of health battles, Phil chose to take off his oxygen mask and went to greet his Bonnie.

Phil was preceded in death by his parents, Violet and John; his siblings, Pauline and Starin; and his wife, Bonnie Young. He is survived by his three children and their spouses, Cindy Young, Mike and Allison Young, and Kathy and Stan Eller; his grandchildren, Lacey, Dana, Jess, Cody, Chrissy and Wyatt; and his 13 great-grandchildren.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Community Presbyterian Church in Kamiah.