Mary Kay Young

According to the poem, The Dash Between, it is the little dash between a person’s first and final dates that really tells their story. Here’s a brief description of Mary Young’s dash between her years…

Born and raised in Muskegon, Michigan, Mary Kay was the oldest of Tom and Mary Hartman’s three children. She was known to be a neat freak, which trait led to her meeting the love of her life, Charles “Chuck” Young. While sitting next to him on a high school hayride, she couldn’t resist picking out pieces of hay caught in his sweater, and thus, a love story began. As Chuck had enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, they were married on June 10, 1966 and set off for Mountain Home AFB, Idaho. Over the next 19 years, they moved 14 times through 9 different states before settling in Tampa, Florida in 1984. Chuck and Mary were married for 46 years until his passing in 2013. They had two children, Tina Marie (1967) and Thomas Charles (1973), and many, many cats.

Due to military life, Mary held many jobs over the years, but spent most of her working career in healthcare, primarily as a hospital ward clerk. Mary especially loved her last and longest occupation as a clerk in the newborn nursery of Tampa General Hospital.

Besides her family, Mary loved books, music, sports, and lighthouses, and probably in that order. There never was a time or place Mary didn’t have a book with her, including Tina’s band concerts and softball games, and Tommy’s Boy Scout activities. She never missed her children’s activities, but she always brought her own entertainment!

Mary followed many sports teams, including the University of Michigan football and basketball teams (Go Blue!), the Tampa Bay Rays, and the Tampa Bay Lightning. Inexplicably, her favorite NFL team for many years was the Dallas Cowboys, until her loyalty was finally and properly converted to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, after just 30 years of living in Tampa.

Mary was a resident of Magnolia Manor Assisted Living Facility for the past six years and the family wishes to recognize and express their immense appreciation for the wonderful care and special friendships Mary experienced during her years there.

Mary was preceded in death by her wonderful parents, Thomas and Mary Ellen (Kersch) Hartman, and her devoted and loving husband, Chuck. She is survived by her daughter, Tina, her son, Tommy, and son-in-law Candido Rodriguez, as well as her brother, Thomas H. Hartman (Susan), sister, Megan K. Purdy (David), and many nieces and nephews.

At Mary’s request, no memorial service has been scheduled. Instead, later this year, her ashes will be combined with those of her husband and scattered in Muskegon, Michigan where their story began. Mary loved lighthouses because they reminded her of home and, therefore, in lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Mary’s name to the restoration project for the Muskegon lighthouses which were her favorites: https://muskegonlights.org/