Ahdele B. "Peggy" Young

1923 - 2017

TROY — Ahdele B. "Peggy" Young, age 94, of Troy, OH; wife, mother, author, essayist, passed away Sunday. Nov. 5, 2017. Born Ahdele Carrine Berg in Alamo, North Dakota on May 29, 1923, she grew up on the windswept prairie 30 miles north of Williston, the daughter of pioneer homesteaders Sever K. and Carrine (Gafkjen) Berg. She had five siblings; Bernice Hayden, Florence Campbell, Norman Berg, Gladys Farver, and Frances Seibert, all of whom' preceded her in death.

A graduate of the Univ. of Minnesota, she moved to Dayton, OH in the late 1940s and worked as an ad copywriter for Rike's Department Store. On May 10, 1949, she married Gerald W. Young, the owner of G.W. Young Public Relations. They were married for 51 years until his death in Feb. 2001. In 1957 they bought their farm in rural Miami County, outside Tipp City, and lived there raising Welsh ponies with their two children. This was the subject of her first book, entitled Green Broke, written under the name of Carrie Young. It received the Ohioana Book Award in 1982.

She continued writing and had published three subsequent books all set in the North Dakota Depression era of her childhood: Nothing to Do but Stay: My Pioneer Mother; The Wedding Dress: Stories from the Dakota Plains; and

Prairie Cooks (reminiscences and recipes) written with her daughter Felicia Young. She also wrote essays for Gourmet Magazine and The Yale Review.

Peggy was known among her friends and family for her candidly humorous personal letters, her compassion for animals, and her lemon meringue pie — which was featured in the book Gourmet's Best Desserts (1987).

She was a 58-year member of Zion Lutheran Church in Tipp City in addition to being a long-time member of the Troy-Tipp Book Review Club.

The family would like to thank the nurses, STNAs, and staff of Troy Center (Genesis Healthcare) for their fine care of her over the years. They also thank Hospice of the Miami Valley for end-of-life care. She is survived by son Lee G. (Carol) Young of Albany, OR and daughter Felicia Young of Troy; 10 nieces and I nephew.

The funeral service will be held at 2:00 PM on Saturday, November 11, 2017 at Zion Lutheran Church, 14 W. Walnut St., Tipp City, Ohio 45371; Pastor Jeff Glawe officiating, burial to follow at Harris Creek Cemetery, Bradford, OH. Visitation will be held from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM on Friday at the church. Contributions may be made in loving memory of Ahdele to Zion Lutheran Church Worship and Music Fund or the Anne Carlsen School, PO Box 8000 Jamestown, ND 58402. Online condolences may be expressed at www.fringsandbayliff.com