Eric Sidney Young
Jan. 17, 1945-June 6, 2026
Danville, California
Submitted by Lora Young

Eric Sidney Young was born on his mother’s 25th birthday, January 17, 1945. Because his father Sidney was still in the army during World War II, he was not able to see Eric for several months after his birth in Los Angeles, California. Two years later his brother Gary showed up (Eric would say uninvitedly so) and five years after that his beloved sister, Gretchen came along to round out the family. The three quickly developed the necessary skills to survive (prank?) each other and all that 1950s Sacramento, CA had to offer.

After his initial lessons from his tennis-loving father at age 4, Eric rapidly became proficient and played on both his high school and college tennis teams. Eric in fact became so good that while in the Air Force reserves during and after the era of the Vietnam war, he was asked to schedule his annual two-week in-person stints only during military tennis championships.

In addition to tennis, Eric enjoyed writing and a love of nature. He was the sports editor of his high school newspaper and worked for the fire department for several summers. At one point during one of these summers, his mother and sister went to pick him up one day after he had spent several hours helping to burn vacant lots to prevent uncontrolled fires. When his sister noted his bulging pockets and asked what was in them, he pulled out several snakes. Eventually his family discovered that he was housing the snakes he had rescued (before the vacant lots were set on fire) in the garden shed in back of his family’s house. His mother and sister took one look inside the shed and agreed that it was much worse than any picture they had ever seen depicting hell. Eric was also an avid fisherman and loved to go deep sea fishing with his maternal grandmother Pearl Kennedy off the coast of Los Angeles. Later he would take up abalone diving with his life long friend (and tennis buddy) Steve Kohl. Eric dove into computers fairly early on. One of his favorite aspects of running a company’s computer systems was to engineer the computers to pursue random annoying tracks when the next shift of computer people started work the following day. This sense of humor and playfulness were evident throughout his life. During summer vacation weeks at Oceanside, California, for instance, he loved to swim during the darker hours of the day, sneaking up onto his siblings under cover of darkness and pretending he was a shark. This was a skill that he continued to hone with his own children. One of his daughter's most vivid early memories is of seeing a large “white-shirted shark” swim up fast to grab her legs.

Eric met his wife Linda in the late 1960s while both were working at Winestocks in Sacramento, CA. She worked in the candy department and he sold shoes. Apparently it was love at first legs when she came down the escalator one day for her shift. He proposed in a letter he wrote to her from Mexico (that he kept) and they married on August 27, 1970 and made a home in Walnut Creek, CA. When money got tight a few years later and Linda had to drop out of college to work, his mother-in-law, Dorothy doubted Linda would ever return. But Eric made a promise that he would make sure she did, and kept it. Linda graduated from San Jose State University with a B.A. in Communications. That was just his way.

In 1974, Lora came along and after a few scary weeks in the ICU (due to being so impatient to meet her parents that she came 6 weeks early), settled right in. Scott joined in 1978 (also after a few scary weeks with surgery to remove an air bubble next to his heart) and the family was complete, along with their black cat, Herbert. Eric was delighted to be a father and could often be found wrestling on the floor after work with Lora and Scott, giving piggy back rides and many nights told them long fanciful stories about an “eskibob” family with a mommy-eskibob, a daddy-eskibob, a beautiful little girl-eskibob and a good lookin-boy eskibob. He wasn’t much of a cook, that he left to Linda, but he could make a great plate of pancakes.

Linda was diagnosed with cancer in 1978 and while the treatment was successful, her cancer would return a dozen years later.

During these years, Eric earned his MBA from Saint Mary's College in Orinda CA worked in computer consulting. In 1984 he fulfilled a life long dream of starting his own business and he and Linda enjoyed building the company together. He was always quick to remind others that Linda was the superior programmer. In 1989, Linda's cancer came back and she passed away on June 8, 1991. This was a tender and heartbreaking time for our family. Our Dad held us together like it was nobody's business but his own- he got us through high school, college and then launched into adulthood with a dedication we are only beginning to appreciate these many decades later.

One of the most startling things about Eric was his work ethic and drive for success. He was relentless in his marketing efforts for his company and both Scott and Lora spent many summer afternoons sealing and stamping letters to go out to potential customers. As a young adult Eric had dreamed of going into psychology but had chosen the more practical path of computers. At the age of 56, he made the decision to go for his earlier dream and returned to graduate school. In (need to look at date) Eric graduated with honors from California State University East Bay with his degree in counseling psychology and began practicing as a marriage and family therapist. He absolutely loved this career and never wanted to retire. He did so only once it became clear his health would no longer permit him to keep up his schedule.

Following the passing of his first wife, Linda, Eric bravely faced the dating scene and enjoyed the companionship and joy of relationship. Scott and Lora remember with deep fondness Jaye Green, Linda Hurd and JoAnn Schophlin. “Grammie Jo” held a special place in Lora’s children’s lives and her passing from breast cancer was deeply mourned by them. Eric swore off dating in the final years of his life- stating it was just far too much trouble and that in truth, no one would measure up to our mother. However, it seems that life had one final love in store for our Dad and earlier this year, Eric met Besty at Capitol Hill Senior living in Utah. The two fell in love and truly, what could be more sweet than new love in your 80s? Each day is an adventure and you just never really know what will happen next. The last few months of Eric's life were difficult but he always perked up for Betsy. As she said after his passing- they only had a few months but they made the most of it.

Eric was a lion of man- full of the courage earned from facing the tough stuff and persevering and able to love fiercely. His kindness, his terrible puns and his desire to just be near his kids all the time are what we will cherish in the seasons to come. Eric passed on June 6, 2026 following a quick decline due to several strokes. He will be missed!