“I’m a kick!” 92-year-old U.S. Army veteran of WWII Darrell Young said.
“He was in the mechanic’s pool and he made sure all of the trucks and everything ran correctly. He kind of diminished his role because it wasn’t like ‘action’, but I said Dad you had a very important part! You made sure that those people got from A to B in a safe running vehicle,” Beck said of her father.
Young served in Korea as a Sergeant and married his high school sweetheart Joyce. She passed a few years ago, they were together for 67 years.
To fill the void of losing her, Young started drawing…and drawing…and drawing.
Hospice residents and employees pose with some of their favorite drawings by Young.
He comes from a family of artists, though he hadn’t tapped into his artistic skills until two years ago.
Young’s health started rapidly declining after being diagnosed with COVID a few weeks ago, and he has since been placed on hospice care.
Residents of his nursing home loved his drawings so much, so his daughter decided to share the love.
Beck said, “People would be like ‘oh I really like that picture, can I have that picture?’ and I’ve told him NO! You can’t give those away! Those are mine hahah! I’m just so proud of him.”
Beck has since lined the walls of the nursing home with his art for people to remember him by. “I know how much joy it has brought everyone from staff to residents here. They all know him as ‘the artist’ and he loves sharing his pictures and showing them off.”
Beck pulled the pieces that she wanted to keep, and allowed his friends to grab the pieces that they wanted on the walls.
The only catch? They have to take a picture with the piece.
Smiles filled the halls as residents and staff picked out their favorite projects.
“I know it’s what he would absolutely love. I know it would give him great joy,” Beck said.
Darrell Young passed peacefully surrounded by loved ones Thursday.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Get updates delivered to you daily. Free and customizable.
It’s essential to note our commitment to transparency:
Our Terms of Use acknowledge that our services may not always be error-free, and our Community Standards emphasize our discretion in enforcing policies. As a platform hosting over 100,000 pieces of content published daily, we cannot pre-vet content, but we strive to foster a dynamic environment for free expression and robust discourse through safety guardrails of human and AI moderation.
Most Popular
Comments / 0