Bill Youngblood, son of Wm. Thurman Youngblood and wife Pauline Pryor, and brother to his older sister, closed the book on life on this earth late Sunday night, August 1, 2021. Bill had been at home in Weir, mostly in bed, since late June and July, passing quietly in his sleep, which was his wish.
He was born in a Military hospital in Memphis, Tenn. Sept. 1, 1943, while his father was overseas during World War Two, and was almost two years old when his father returned home. His dad bought 13 acres of land in DeSoto County, Miss. and started gardens, fruit trees, and bought a few cows. His father was a driver for a bus company in Memphis at night and worked on his farm during the day, after a nap when he got home. Unfortunately, both Bill’s father and mother died when he was 14 years old, and he moved in with one of his uncles until he finished high school at Olive Branch, where he had the highest grades in his class during high school.
After an illness while in his first year N. E. Miss. Junior College, he dropped out of school. His grandmother called one his uncles to come down and convinced Bill to join the Air Force. He was stationed at England A.F.B. in Louisiana, but was overseas for 137 days in 1965 during the early years of the Viet Nam War, where he was assigned with the original Wild Weasel 1 as a radio man. After his discharge, he married in Louisiana. They had three children, a daughter who died at 10 days old, and two sons, who have provided five grandchildren, Carlie, Justin, Calab and Gabrial and Jackson. The couple divorced in 1997.
Bill had a variety of interesting events during his working days. He was in charge of the night radio contractors in a NASA location at Madagascar, and was there when the astronauts called in as “Snoopy” saying they could not wait until morning to step down on the moon.
Bill worked other jobs after coming back to the USA, working for Howard Hughes in California. He finally ended up in the oil business, with Conoco, where he was in charge of changing manual equipment to computers in the field, living in Louisiana, retiring in 1999.
Bill started looking to move to a location about halfway between his older son Steven, a medical doctor in Louisiana, and younger son Jeff, an engineering professor at Purdue in Indiana. After checking out several sites between Grenada and Kosciusko, he had not found what he wanted, until a salesperson suggested an old Choctaw County Lake cabin in Weir. The rest is history. He moved to Weir in early 2006, continuing his ancestry search on his family, meeting several new Youngbloods in the neighbor counties. One of his first friendships was a lady just up the road in the woods, who helped him get settled.
Bill went back to his roots, starting a nice garden, raising chickens, helping the neighbors with electrical work, making trips to visit newly found relatives and enjoying the slower life in Weir. For 16 years, C. J. Johnson, the lady at the end of their road, became his partner and they enjoyed life, work, and each other until August 1, 2021.
In his family research, Bill found Aunt Zula and Uncle John, who lived just across the Tennessee line from DeSoto County. He recalled as a child Aunt Zula coming down to let them know that “Uncle John woke up dead.” Bill wanted to “wake up dead” like Uncle John, and he did, and family and friends were told he “woke up dead.”
Bill’s family and close friends will have a private service andburial at a later time at the Presbyterian Church Cemetery at Weir.If interested, memorials may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, or Shriners Children’s Hospital in Shreveport, Louisiana.
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