Barbara Elaine Cahoon-Young

Barbara Elaine Rivers was born on October 1, 1944, to Geraldine Rivers and Willie Rivers in

Indianapolis, Indiana. She is a 1963 graduate of Crispus Attucks High School, built in 1927 by the Indianapolis Public Schools specifically for African-American students. After relocating to California, Barbara earned an Associate of Arts degree on June 12, 1970, at the City College of San Francisco. She was conferred a Bachelor of Arts degree on June 1, 1973, at California State University, San Francisco. She earned a Doctorate of Philosophy in Biomedical Laboratory Services in June, 1977 at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Public Health.

Throughout her medical career Dr. Cahoon-Young was a public health scientist at the Alameda County Public Health Department. She also studied AIDS at an Oakland clinic and conducted research on Hepatitis C. The then-Department of Health Services, now the California Department of Public Health, certified Dr. Cahoon-Young on February 8, 2002, to be a public health microbiologist at it's Richmond, California Public Health Laboratory. She retired as Placer County Public Health’s Public Health Lab Director on July 14, 2010.

Barbara married Johnny A. Cahoon on April 20, 1965. The couple had one child, Stephanie Elaine Cahoon, who was born in March 1967. Barbara’s husband died of cardiac arrest on May 7, 1987. She married Grant Young on February 10, 1988. He passed away in 2012.

Barbara is survived by daughter Stephanie E. Owens; son-in-law Leonard E. Owens; grandsons Marcus J. Coln and Austin J. Quilter; step-granddaughter Francheska E. Owens; great granddaughter Alaya E. Quilter; great grandson Austin J. Quilter Jr.; sisters Geraldine Rivers and Veta Rivers; and a host of other relatives.

She was preceded in death by her mother Geraldine Rivers and her father Willie Rivers; her two husbands; and her brothers Willie Rivers Jr. and Stewart Rivers.

Dr. Barbara E. Cahoon-Young accepted Jesus Christ as her LORD and Savior. She was surrounded by loved ones when she transitioned from this side of eternity to meet her Heavenly Father in Heaven.