Ward W. Young

Seventy-four years ago last June there was born to Mr. and Mrs. Calvin C. Young, in a log house standing just east of Youngs cemetery, a son. He was given the name of Ward W. in honor of his uncle. Ward Woodward.

In Liberty Center this baby grew to manhood, attended school, entered the employ of A. Z. Bryan as clerk, engaged in the dry goods business himself, married Miss Della Haag in 1889, successfully conducted the large business he had built up for a number of years and then associated with him as a partner Roy A. Beilharz, to whom he sold his interest a few years later. He retired from active business for several years, then opened a store in Paulding, in partnership with Bernard Ducat, formerly of Grand Rapids, but for several years a clerk in Mr. Young’s big store.

No need to recount here the life of Ward W. Young. That he was useful, honest, honorable, upright citizen is known to the thousands who knew him. To this splendid record nothing can be added, he built for himself a memorial that will endure in the hearts and minds of those thousands for years.

What Press readers will want to know, and about which there have been many erroneous reports, is what happened on the fatal evening of Thursday August 20, 1936.

Four years ago, Mr. Young suffered a fall while clearing the ice and snow from his sidewalk, sustaining a broken hip. He never recovered from this, the injury being in about the worst place possible, giving him continual pain and suffering. He was unable to walk without the assistance of a crutch, though he went to Paulding each winter to be of what assistance he could in conducting the large store, spent in their home in Liberty Center.

Mr. Young had been confined to his bed for two weeks, having daily chills. On this Thursday he had no chill, had rested better and felt more cheerful. In the evening Mrs. Young went to the garden to water some melons. She was gone five or ten minutes and when she returned to the house she could see someone sitting in the chair In Mr. Young’s room. She supposed it was her sister-in-law, Mrs. Pearl Haag, who often came to sit a while with hlm. When she entered the room a few minutes later she saw the person in the 'chair was her husband. She put her hand on him, spoke to him, and getting no response, she ran across the lawn to get Dr. Wright, who came at once. The Doctor pulled up Mr. Youngs night robe to inject a heart stimulant into Mr. Young’s leg, and as he pulled up the robe the revolver was disclosed.

What occurred was this: When Mrs. Young left the room Mr. Young got out of bed, managed to get to a chair a few feet away, hitched the chair to a dresser, in a drawer of which was the revolver he had carried when taking money home from the store, when in business here, money received after banking hours. Taking the revolver from the drawer he placed it to his right temple and pulled the trigger.

And that, friends, is the sad story. Aside from ill health and a feeling that he could never be any better, a conviction that he would linger on, a burden to those he loved, there seems to be no real reason for the act. Thru honesty, integrity, square dealing and careful business management he had accumulated a considerable fortune, not large, as fortunes are reckoned today, but ample. He had suffered some financial loss through investments, but not sufficient to cause worry.

Funeral services were conducted by Rev. Albright Sunday afternoon at the home, and the remains were laid at rest in Young’s cemetery, not far from the place where he was born.