Dorothy Rawlings Young

January 8, 1926 - May 7, 2019

Dorothy Rawlings Young, 93, Mount Sterling, Kentucky, passed away on the 7th of May, 2019, the birthday of her beloved late husband, William Nathan Young II (Nate). Dorothy was the youngest of eight children born to Tom and Nina Rawlings of Bald Eagle (Bath County), Kentucky where she grew up on the family farm. She was lucky enough to have her father in her life until he passed at the age of 97. That family farm was the gathering place for Dorothy and her siblings and their children and grandchildren until her father’s passing in 1973. Dorothy graduated from high school in Owingsville, and attended Transylvania College. She taught school in Camargo and Bethel, before she married Nate on the on the 14th of October 1950 at the very farm where she grew up. They lived in Carlisle their entire married life. Their children are William Nathan Young III (Bill, and his wife Paula), who lives in Durango, Colorado; and Nina Young of Belfast, Maine. She did social work for the Kentucky Department of Human Services in Carlisle from the early 1960s until her retirement in 1981. She was active in the Presbyterian Church in Carlisle, as well as the Carlisle Women’s Club. Her love of gardening showed wonderful results with flowers, herbs, flowering bushes and trees flourishing in the yard. Her strong desire to keep the yard mowed properly at all times during the summer, was especially time consuming for Bill, who mowed that 2 acres every few days for all the years he was growing up there. She and her good friend, Frances Buntin were Brownie Scout leaders for a time (Nina and Becky Carter (Buntin) were, of course in that troop. One camping trip was about all it took for Dorothy to determine that the camping life was not really her cup of tea. She was not fond of snakes. Throwing parties was one of her favorite parts of life. She and Nate included relatives and friends in a grand mix of all kinds of parties from Derby, to Christmas, to Briar and Rabbit Club after-dance breakfasts, to family reunions, to pig roasts, to cocktail and dinner parties through the years. The stories from those parties will entertain us all for years to come. Travel was a passion for Dorothy. As a young family with little discretionary income, favorite family trips included many of Kentucky’s fine state parks where Bill and Nina loved staying in little cabins and swimming in the pool, having picnics and taking hikes with their parents. Once the children were off to college and beyond, Nate and Dorothy travelled to visit them in Florida, Virginia, Vermont, Maine, Texas and New Mexico as well as many other great trips with friends and family. There were wonderful trips to the beach with a caravan of friends and family renting beach-front houses at Cherry Grove Beach in South Carolina for a week in the summer. One year the number of children included was approaching well over a dozen. Only one child wandered off, to be found at another house quite a distance up the beach, enjoying the family who was visiting there. He did keep telling the family that he was Sam Cook Reynolds and he was from Carlisle, Kentucky. So that vacationing family kept him safe until frantic family members finally found him. Dorothy moved to Mount Sterling in 2000 and enjoyed creating wonderful gardens and holding parties and having family gatherings at her house in Silver Creek until just a few years ago, when she slowed down to a more settled life. She adored sitting on her patio watching and listening to the birds, which are plentiful on the property. Her favorite bird was the Kentucky Cardinal. Pallbearers are Proc Blair, Clark Kissick, Taborn Kissick, Steven Bach, Arthur Salomon, and Hank Young. Honorary pallbearers are Anthony Thomas, Rob Lane, Jimmy Kissick, Jerry Atkinson and Billy Hopkins. Visitation will be held at the Carlisle Presbyterian church from 10:30 – 12:30 Monday May 13, followed immediately by a memorial service at the church. A private service will be held at the gravesite.