Elsie Young (Sept. 21, 1912–March 16, 2018) passed away as this issue went to press. Linda Piepenbrink visited Elsie in January.

Solar-powered figurines tick-tock on the windowsill as Elsie Young ’38 sits in her recliner, leafing through a binder of stories, poetry, and devotional articles she’s written over the years. “There are some real goodies in here!” she says, searching for something special to copy for the nursing assistants. Even at 105 years old, Elsie still takes opportunities to witness to people and give them literature. “My next article that I want to write is called ‘Looking Back,’” she says.

One of the oldest living Moody alums, Elsie says that by recalling the past, “you see the things you couldn’t do and how the Lord worked it out for good and for His benefit.”

These days she gets pushed in a wheelchair, and the farthest she goes is the dining room of an Arizona retirement community, where she is the oldest resident. “Sometimes people ask me if I like it here. I say it’s great except that I’m always getting pushed around,” she says with a grin. “See, I still have a sense of humor!” 

“Everyone knows how old I am. I’m famous for my age,” she adds. “But I’m young. I always said I didn’t marry my husband for love. I married him for his name so I could be forever ‘Young.’”

Looking Way Back 

Elsie was born September 21, 1912, the year the Titanic sank and Arizona became a state. She has outlived seven siblings, most other known relatives, and her husband, Harold Young ’38. 

The sixth of eight children, Elsie grew up in a church-going family on a small farm near Sandusky, Ohio. “I had a close relationship with my earthly father,” she says, recalling fieldwork at her dad’s side. “I’d put the strawberry plant in the ground, and with his foot he’d stamp it in.” She learned to drive a Model T Ford while selling fruits and vegetables with her father. 

At a youth get-together in 1931, Elsie met Harold, a Kroger store manager four years older than she. Elsie was 19 when Harold gave her a diamond ring, but Elsie’s mother wouldn’t consent to the marriage and Ohio required parental consent under age 20. Impressed by Harold’s job during the Great Depression, Elsie’s older brother and sister helped the couple elope by driving them across the West Virginia state line where marriage laws were more lenient. 

When Harold and Elsie returned, Elsie’s mother put them at ease: “I know all about it,” she said.

 A year later Harold saw a bus advertising gospel revival meetings. After attending, Elsie asked Harold, “If you died tonight, would you go to Heaven?”

“No,” he said, “would you?”

She wasn’t sure. They had grown up going to church, but now realized the need to be “born again.” Attending the final night, they invited Jesus Christ into their lives as Savior and Lord. “Harold and I dedicated our lives together,” she says.

In 1934, the week before Christmas, Harold lost his job. With time on their hands, they volunteered to conduct VBS programs in schoolhouses in the Kentucky mountains. While there, someone told them, “You kids need Moody.” 

Elsie laughs at the memory. “We didn’t even know what Moody was then, but we landed at Moody—both of us.”

Looking back Elsie says, “If Harold hadn’t lost his job, we wouldn’t have been down there in Kentucky. And if we hadn’t been down there, we wouldn’t have heard about Moody.”

Life after Moody 

They attended Moody Bible Institute from 1935 to 1938. Harold took the Pastor’s Course and Elsie studied music. She remembers playing her accordion during street meetings in downtown Chicago.

After getting their diplomas, they spent several years in the Ozark Mountains of Oklahoma and Arkansas as home missionaries. Later Harold served as assistant pastor of a Baptist church in Des Moines, Iowa, while Elsie served as church secretary. When the choir director moved away, Elsie took over the choir and was grateful that choral conducting had been part of her studies at Moody.

The Youngs spent several years working at Moody Bible Institute’s bookstore and for Moody Radio. In 1950, they ran their own Christian bookstore in Michigan where Elsie served on the board of the Christian Booksellers Association. In 1957, they moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where Elsie set up a literature ministry for Christian Business and Professional Women of America.

Each time they relocated, their ministry continued. In Detroit, Harold served as an assistant visitation minister in their church and Elsie worked as a teacher trainer. 

The Youngs moved to California in the 1970s to work for Dr. Clyde Narramore, a Christian psychologist. When they retired in 1979, Elsie worked in real estate and investments.

In 1986 the couple relocated to Friendship Village in Tempe, Arizona, where Elsie taught Bible studies for up to 30 seniors. When Harold passed away in 1994, they had been happily married for 62 years. Although the Youngs were never able to have children of their own, Elsie later unofficially adopted Charles Smith, who volunteered after her in their church library. “He’s like a son,” she says. “I pray for him every day for wisdom.” 

For Elsie’s 100th birthday, where the theme was To God Be the Glory, Charles wrote this tribute: “I’m single and age 66, and Elsie has become my closest friend. We spend valuable time together on the phone and in person, and know that God brought us together as ‘mother and son.’”

Charles accompanied Elsie to an area meeting celebrating Moody Bible Institute’s 125th anniversary in 2011. Besides meeting the Alumni Association executive director, Nancy (Andersen ’80) Hastings, she met Moody Radio’s Chris Fabry ’84. Since then Elsie has shared her faith and wisdom on his program several times. She also has her own website, kneeholedesk.com, with links to verses, stories, poems, and other “Encouraging Words by Elsie K. (Koch) Young.” 

Chris Fabry interviews Elsie on her 100th birthday, attended by more than 100 people.

Living in one room, Elsie has few possessions, but she is still a giver. Her nightstand is crowded with devotionals and correspondence, including mail from Moody Bible Institute. “Of course I’m on Moody’s mailing list,” she says. “My instructions are that when I am not here anymore, everything that I have left goes to Moody.”

What legacy does she hope alumni will learn from her long life? She thinks for a moment: “Faithfulness to the Savior.”

With her advancing years, Elsie has more health challenges and fewer visitors. “I really feel after coming from a big family and being active, I get pretty lonely,” she says. “But I don’t spend a lot of time moaning and groaning about what I don’t have. So far I’m able to be thankful for what I have.” A stack of word find books gives her pleasure, and her big window shows the trees blowing in the breeze and planes flying the red-eye at night. She picks up a piece of flowery stationery titled “Thanks-Living,” which she wrote when she turned 100.

“There are so many things we can’t do,” she reads, “like . . . grow a plant without water, send a letter without a stamp, hug a person without having arms, have eternal life without a Savior. Let’s ask God to fill our cup to overflowing with a truly thankful heart; then praise Him for what follows.”

Elsie takes her own advice, starting and ending each day with prayer. “I’m thankful to be here,” she says, “and the Lord is with me.”

Linda Piepenbrink is managing editor of Moody Alumni News.