South Anchorage Legion Baseball: Taylar Young #1

Taylar Lafferty Young

Taylar Lafferty Young, 16, died after a tragic accident May 23, 2009, at Alaska Regional Hospital. "Our beloved son, brother, grandson and nephew is now playing baseball with the angels," his family wrote. A service for Taylar will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, with visitation from 1-2 p.m., at First Baptist Church, 1100 W. 10th Ave. (10th Avenue and L Street). Burial will follow at Angelus Memorial Park, 440 E. Klatt Road. Pallbearers will include Mike Cleary, Rich Bentson, DeJay Blommer, Chris Williams, Wrangle Jensen and Jake Ziemer. The South High School baseball team will serve as honorary pallbearers. A reception afterward will be at the Tanglewood Golf Clubhouse, 11701 Brayton Drive. Please come and share memories of this fine young man. He was born in Anchorage on April 21, 1993, and went on to live in Dutch Harbor, attending Unalaska Elementary and Junior High through 2006. Taylar was always eager to play baseball and would head for Frank Kelty Field in Unalaska with eight or nine of his friends and his brother to play sandlot ball during the summer. For two years prior to moving to Anchorage, Taylar and his brother attended baseball camp in California. Taylar participated in all sorts of sports in addition to baseball: wrestling, skiing, football and golf. A morning ritual for Taylar and his dad was checking out the sports action on ESPN's "First Take." He moved to Anchorage prior to beginning eighth grade at Goldenview in 2007. He was avid about baseball and began playing for the Service JV South Anchorage team in 2007. After his freshman year, he made the JV South Anchorage Baseball Team. Taylar was bright, witty and loving and was much loved by his family and friends. He will forever be held close in our hearts. Taylar is survived by his loving family: father, Dennis Lafferty Young of Anchorage; mother, Tammy Hodge of San Antonio, Texas; his older brother, Schuyler P.H. Young of Anchorage; paternal grandparents, Marion G. and Charlotte L. Davis of Anchorage; maternal grandfather, Don McCraven of South Carolina; many aunts and uncles including Kristen M. Davis of Anchorage, Sandy and Jim Minneo of Manchester, Conn., Donna and Keith Kuehn of Valdosta, Ga., Debbie McCraven of San Antonio, Texas; "special" uncles, Boris Castellanos of Mercer Island, Wash., and Curt Jennings of Mukilteo, Wash.; several great-aunts and uncles, Kathleen Collins of Bellevue, Wash., Loretta and Richard Bentson of Anchorage, Willetta "Jean" Pinkham of Marina Del Rey, Calif., Michelle Dow of Dallas, Texas, and Frances and Eugene Odom of Smyrna, Tenn.; cousins, Kelly Bentson of Truckee, Calif., Carey Miknich of Anchorage, Leslie Diettrich of Boulder, Colo., Jennifer Benter of Anchorage, Keri Soltoski of Vernon, Conn., and Bettye Boyd of Smyrna, Tenn.; and many other extended family members and friends too numerous to mention. He is also survived by his special godparents, Mike and Janice Cleary of Anchorage. He was preceded in death by his maternal grandmother, Joyce McCraven Taylar was a Life Alaska donor participant. His heart, humor and spirit will now touch the lives of families he never met. In lieu of flowers, please direct donations, in memory of Taylar L. Young, to South Anchorage Baseball Booster Club (or SABBC), P.O. Box 111534, Anchorage 99511.

We would like to thank the many people and organizations that have contacted us offering support.  Calls have come from all over Alaska including Dutch Harbor and Unalaska. 

Please visit our Albums link for more pictures of Taylar.

-Anita Archuleta