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Edith Adele Trice Younge was born in Brooklyn, NY on November 10, 1926.  She was the youngest of three daughters of George Cooper Trice and C. Rosella Payne Trice.  She attended Girls’ High School in Brooklyn and Cornell University in Ithaca NY where she received a BS degree in Home Economics and met her husband to be, Richard Gibbs Younge, whom she married July 3, 1949.  They had been married 62 years when he died in December 2011. 

Returning to Brooklyn after college, Edith taught Home Economics in one of the most difficult Junior High Schools in Brooklyn at the time.  She and a group of dedicated, like-minded teachers promoted an environment that encouraged academic achievement for the students.  After about a decade of teaching in the New York City Public Schools, Edith, Richard, and their four children Richard, Karen, Diane, and David -- five months old at the time -- moved west when Richard was called to be the rector of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Oakland, CA.  Edith and Richard became active in the movement to end housing discrimination when they bought a house in Piedmont, CA and became the first Black family in that small city in the East Bay.  Richard’s work changed from the parish ministry to a succession of Episcopal college chaplaincies in San Jose State University, the University of Washington, and Grambling State University in Louisiana.  Edith often commented that life in Louisiana was very different for two people who had always lived on the East or West Coasts.  She was always quick to say that the experience in a new community was a great opportunity to learn something new.

Edith taught home economics in the San Jose Unified School District for many years, and she continued teaching in the Seattle Public Schools when Richard retired from his chaplaincy in Louisiana and they returned to the Northwest.  In San Jose she played a major role establishing the Episcopal Church in Almaden.  Edith served on the governing body of the new parish.  This was a pioneering role for a woman forty years ago.  She was also an active member of the Episcopal Church Women.   Edith designed and sewed vestments for the church and organized fund-raising or social events.

Family and friends remember Edith as a most gracious host who was welcoming to all at home and at church.  Her grandchildren remember summer visits to Grandma E’s and Pop-Pop’s home overlooking Lake Washington.  Visits might include vegetable gardening and baking, especially pies, Edith had a great pastry hand.  “Don’t overwork the dough,” she would advise.  Taking walks down to the lake and back up the 103 steps to Fifty-Second Avenue, watching the Blue Angels performance on 4th of July weekend, and nights of playing Canasta or Hand and Foot kept everyone quite busy.  Edith was renown by her children, grandchildren, and sisters as a ruthless card shark, who let you down easy after she had thoroughly trounced you.  She loved to teach even when she wasn’t at school.  A good deal of time was spent with her seven granddaughters in the sewing room downstairs.  She and the grandchildren used the fruits and vegetables from Pop-Pop’s small backyard garden for summer meals.   Sometimes there was a big enough harvest from the apple tree to make a few jars of grandma’s “Tender-best Applesauce.”   Most of all, Edith loved sitting in her living room with friends and family talking and enjoying the view of the lake and the mountains in the distance. 

Edith is lovingly remembered and missed by her two sisters Rosalie Johnson and Dorothy Trice; her two surviving children, Richard Younge and Diane Barnes; her seven granddaughters: Shannon Barnes, Tamiko Younge, Amanda Adams, Akina Younge, Clara Younge, Mandella Younge, and Danae Younge; two step-grandchildren William Wilson and Adina Wilson; and one great-grand son Kwesi Adams.

A memorial service and internment will be held on Saturday July 11, 2pm at St. Clements Episcopal Church in Seattle, 1501 32nd Ave S.


Comments

Many thanks to your family for celebrating Edith's generous and Grace-full life with a memorial at St. Clement's, her last home church in Seattle. I deeply regret that I'll miss the event, but I am so very grateful to have known her AND Richard, to have met some of their wonderful family, and to belong to the powerful multitudes who will carry on their legacy of Love. I can almost hear what each of them would say in these difficult days, including the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's "Only Light can drive out Darkness. Only Love can conquer hate". Thank you Edith. Rest in Peace.

Since grandma’s “Tender-best Applesauce” is mentioned above, I'll add my sweet memories of the pear preserves made by Fr. Richard and Fr. Ralph Carskaaden.

--Sally Fittsizer


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