Thelma Young

Thelma Young, longtime Cushing resident and retired schoolteacher, died March 2, 2006 in Cushing at the age of 99 years. She was born on May 24, 1906, in Dit, Missouri to J.H. and Ida Blankenship. The family moved in 1914 to Cushing, where J.H. Blankenship was in the grocery business until being elected Payne County assessor in 1932, an office he held until 1970. After graduating from Cushing High School in 1924, Thelma attended Central State College for two years and returned to Cushing to teach at rural Round Grove School. She married Valcus F. Young on June 17, 1927 and lived in Cushing the remainder of her life. She resumed teaching in elementary school in Cushing in 1943, attending Oklahoma A&M College during summer sessions until receiving her bachelor's degree in 1950. She retired in 1971. She had been a member of the First Baptist Church in Cushing for more than 90 years. She was preceded in death by her husband in 1989 after 62 years of marriage; two brothers, Norman Blankenship and Norvelle (J.B.) Blankenship; a sister, Tresa Orr and a son-in-law, Wendell Bolton. She is survived by two daughters, Sara Lou Cargill and husband Robert L. Cargill and Marcia Lee Bolton, all of Fort Worth, Texas; a son, John V. Young and wife Dru, of Sapulpa; seven grandchildren; 20 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.