Jeane Ridge Young's Obituary
Jeane Ridge Young, 80, died Saturday, November 6 at Hospice of Chattanooga of complications following a stroke. Mrs. Young was born in Memphis to Bernice (Bunny) and Fred Ridge, a photographer for the Memphis Commercial Appeal. She was accomplished on the piano and, with her sister, started a dancing school while in high school. She once performed a dance routine for returning WWII soldiers, using the bomb bay of the legendary B-17 Memphis Belle as a changing room. She graduated from Central High School and Memphis State, then attended graduate school at the University of Wisconsin. Her teaching career began at Evansville (Ind.) College where she served as chair of the journalism department and advisor to the student newspaper during the turbulent Vietnam War era. After serving as PR director for WKNO, the local public broadcasting affiliate, Mrs. Young advanced to the Public Broadcasting Service in Washington DC during the network’s formative years. She was then tapped to serve in the Carter Administration as Director of Public Affairs for the Economic Development Administration. During the 1980’s she performed a similar service for the Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts. Responding to a more entrepreneurial impulse, she then spent more than 20 years selling residential real estate in DC, Maryland and Virginia. Mrs. Young is survived by her sister, Anne Ridge (Johnny) Johnson of Charlotte, NC (also former Memphians); her daughter, Cynthia Young (Jack) Parillo of Buskirk, NY; her son Fred (Kathy)Young of Chattanooga; and her grandchildren, David Parillo of Marlborough, MA and Elizabeth Parillo of Bozeman MT. A memorial service will be held in Memphis in the spring. Expressions of condolence may be made at memorialparkfuneralandcemetery.com.
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