John V. Young was born on October 31, 1934, in Cushing, Oklahoma. He departed this life on April 21, 2025, at the age of 90 years.

John graduated from Cushing High School in 1952 and from Oklahoma Baptist University in 1956. He served three years' active duty as a U.S. Naval Reserve officer aboard the USS Begor (APD-127) in the Pacific amphibious fleet.

He began a 53-year career in journalism in 1960 as sports and news editor of the Cushing Daily Citizen, the same year he met and married the love of his life, Drucilla (Dru) Estes Young. To this union were born a son, Shawn, and a daughter, Sabrina.

He joined United Press International in 1963 in Dallas, where he became a team member of the wire service's prize-winning coverage of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. He spent two years as manager of UPI's Kansas City bureau before becoming news editor of the Sapulpa Daily Herald for 14 years. In 1978 he became a copy editor at The Tulsa Tribune and was serving as news editor upon its closing in 1992. Two weeks later he joined the copy desk staff at the Tulsa World, retiring in 2013. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame in 2006.

He became a Christian at an early age and was active in Baptist churches wherever he lived, including First Baptist, Sapulpa and, since 1991, First Baptist Church of Tulsa.

After years of watching and cheering Dru as she ran 5K races, John, at age 68, took up running as a hobby, doing 5Ks with her and later with their grandsons.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Valcus and Thelma Young of Cushing; son, Shawn Young; sister, Sara Lou Cargill; brothers-in-law Bob Cargill and Wendell Bolton; and nephew Howard Cargill.

He is survived by his wife, Dru; daughter, Sabrina (Lane) Davis of Oklahoma City; daughter-in-law, Rhonda Young of Sapulpa; grandsons, Caleb (Brenna), Seth (Sydney), Simon (Katie) and Luke (Linley)Young and Austin Davis; great-granddaughters, Wren Aster and Nora Dru Young; sister, Marcia Lee Bolton of Fort Worth, Texas; nieces: Anita, Janette, Sara Beth, Dianna, Debbie, Barbie, Melissa, Belinda and Stephanie; and nephews: Neil, Stephen, Rick and Dan.

Funeral services will be 10:00 A.M. on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the First Baptist Church of Tulsa, 420 S. Detroit.