Stephenson Searles Youngerman, Jr.
December 13, 1928 - December 24, 2020
Boise, Idaho - Stephenson Searles Youngerman, Jr. was born on December 13, 1928 in Hartford, CT to Stephenson Searles and Clara (Gompper) Youngerman. He died on December 24, 2020 in Boise, ID of Coronavirus.
Steve and his younger brother, Nelson, spent their boyhoods growing up in rural Connecticut. The family lived in Coventry, Willington, and eventually on a farm in Stafford Springs. Steve graduated from Coventry High School in 1947 and from Norwich University, a military academy, in Northfield, VT on June 10, 1951. The day before his graduation, he married Kathryn Louise Maloney, the beautiful nurse he met while delivering laundry to the Green Mountain Clinic in Northfield.
Upon graduation, Steve enlisted in the 82nd Airborne Division of the U.S. Army as a Second Lieutenant. He was stationed in Fort Bragg, NC during the Korean Conflict and spent time with the 10th Infantry Division training in Death Valley, CA and Fort Drum, NY. He was honorably discharged in 1953.
Steve earned a teaching certificate from the U of Connecticut. He taught in Cabot, VT and Alturas, CA. He also became a land surveyor for the State of Vermont. He was on, and eventually leading, survey crews that measured the length of Vermont from Massachusetts to Canada for the Interstate 91 construction project. In 1957, Steve became the principal of Lamoille Central Academy in Hyde Park, VT. While living in Hyde Park, Steve earned a Master's Degree in Education from the U of Vermont and owned an asphalt paving company.
Steve became the youngest school superintendent in the State of Vermont in 1963 when he was hired by the Orange Windsor School District. He and his family moved to Strafford, VT. In 1967, Steve was granted a C.S. Mott Fellowship and the family moved to Michigan so that he could complete his doctorate in education. He graduated from the U of Michigan in 1969 and through the University placement service interviewed for and was hired by the Boise Independent School District. In his short tenure as superintendent of the BSD, Steve started many innovative programs including Community Education, Kindergarten, and Elementary Library Paraprofessionals. Steve was also the superintendent at the Lodge Grass Public School District in Lodge Grass, MT, the Liberty School District in Fairfield, WA and the Jerome School District in Jerome, ID. Steve and Kay made life-long friends wherever they went.
In 1985, Steve and Kay moved back to the Treasure Valley and Steve became the superintendent of the Nampa School District. After retiring in 1989, he and Kay relocated to Boise where Steve began his second act. He successfully opened two restaurants, Harry's in Hype Park and Piazza De Vino. Steve learned to watercolor by attending a Community Ed. class and then by studying with Roland Giampoli for many years. Steve was accomplished as a watercolorist, he won the St. Luke's Christmas Card Contest and numerous 1st, 2nd, and Honorable Mention ribbons at the Western Idaho Fair. Steve had a strong sense of civic responsibility and served on the boards of the Greater Boise Auditorium District, the Boise City Department of Arts and History, the Bogus Basin Ski Association, the Highlands Neighborhood Association, and worked as a consultant for the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare and Idaho State School and Hospital.
Above all else, Steve was a family man. He and Kay loved nothing better than to have large family dinners in their home at every holiday. No matter where they lived, they created a welcoming, safe, warm, and sustaining place. Steve was a great cook. He could whip up a batch of sourdough bread, cook something in his Dutch oven on the barbecue grill, bake pies, and decorate Christmas cookies with the best of them. Steve and Kay hosted their niece, Lucinda Powers (Walker) when she was a page in the Idaho Senate, two Rotary foreign exchange students from Australia, as well as any number of friends their children brought home, many of whom stayed for a few months to a year. In 1991, when Steve's oldest grandson, Riley, began attending Highlands Elementary, Steve walked him to and from school each day. He volunteered in Riley's classrooms, became an "Art Mom" and was known as "Papa" to Riley's classmates.
Steve was a voracious reader, an avid woodcutter, and gardener. He loved outdoor recreation. Snow-skiing was by far his favorite activity. For as long as they lived in Boise, Steve and Kay had season passes at Bogus Basin and purchased them for their children and grandchildren. In his retirement years, Steve honed his skills and, after turning 70, enjoyed a free pass at Bogus for over 10 years, skiing well into his 80s. He and Kay spent many years basking in the sun in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico in January and in June, canoeing at Wade Lake, MT in August, and attending reunions in Vermont in October.
In his later years, Steve preferred to go by his birth name, Stephenson. He is survived by his wife of 69 years, Kathryn, his daughters Stephanie (Robert Jahn) and Sydney (Steven Cole), his son Steve (Julie Herndon), his grandchildren Riley, Kyle, Gretchen, and Stevie Youngerman, Morgan Keating, and Hadley Goff, his sister-in-law Elizabeth Maloney Powers, and his brother-in-law John Maloney as well as numerous nieces, nephews, and second cousins. A huge thank you goes out to the staff at MorningStar Englefield Green who took such good care of Stephenson for the past two and a half years and to Keystone Hospice. In lieu of flowers a contribution to the Bogus Basin Ski Association or the Idaho Food Bank may be made in Stephenson's name. There will be a memorial service at a later date.