Don Young did almost everything to preserve nature, whether it was dressing as Smokey Bear for parades or picking up aluminum cans on every outing.
Young, who died March 21 at age 90, was a district forester and liked to describe himself as a “teacher in a large classroom without walls.”
He died in the Cañon City home where he and his wife, Joanne Young, had lived in since 1955.
Young loved to camp, hike, photograph and learn everything he could about the outdoors.
Even in his 80s “he could name every plant and flower and tree,” said his son Jerry Fitzgerald of Denver.
Young was “devoted to his job and helping other people,” said C.K. Morey of La Veta, who worked for Young and later succeeded him.
The state forestry department is funded by both the state and federal governments, Morey said. The job includes tree planting, monitoring for diseased trees, and getting trees pruned or removed if need be.
The forester also helps people understand fire protection, works with fire commands to train and equip firefighters and works with landowners on forest management.
Young never lost interest. When he was in his 80s, he built a mile-long nature trail, hauling the rocks and marking every plant along the way, said his daughter-in-law JoVonne Fitzgerald of Denver.
Don Young was born Nov. 2, 1916, in Tulsa, Okla., and moved with his family to New Mexico, where they homesteaded. The family moved back and forth between New Mexico and Colorado.
After high school graduation, he worked in an infirmary for the Civilian Conservation Corps and his mother saved his $25 monthly allotments so he could attend Colorado State University in Fort Collins.
That was interrupted by World War II, when he served in the Army and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He earned a Silver Star.
He married Joanne Fitzgerald in 1945.
Young earned his forestry degree at CSU, worked as the 4-H agent in Adams County and headed the first state forestry office, which was in Cañon City. His territory was half the state.
In addition to his wife and son, he is survived by two daughters, the Rev. Gail Duba of Spokane, Wash., and Donna Young of Cañon City; two other sons, Robert Young of Cle Elum, Wash., and Greg Young of Seoul, South Korea; his sister, Ruth Stoddart of Everett, Wash.; and eight grandchildren.
Staff writer Virginia Culver can be reached at 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com.
