H. Elizabeth Young

On December 24, 2024, H. Elizabeth “Liz” Young died peacefully in her sleep at the Colonnades Skilled Nursing Facility in Charlottesville, VA, at the age of 87. The cause of death was complications from Parkinson’s Disease.

She was born Helen Elizabeth Louise Prostel in Dickinson, ND on April 23, 1937. As a young girl she loved roller skating, dancing and music. She started driving at the age of 12.

In 1952 her family moved to Laramie, WY where she attended Laramie High as the Class of 1955 and participated in Band, Thespian Society, Girls State (where she got to be the stand-in “Governor of Wyoming” for a day) and acted in the Senior Class play. Many of the boys in her high school called her a “swell girl” in their signature notations.

She remained in Laramie, attending the University of Wyoming and majoring in Music. Her father, Edward Prostel, served as an Assistant Professor at the University, engaging in coal research. Her mother Irmgard was a homemaker, renowned cook and local volunteer. While at the University, Helen met her future husband, Donald “Don” Young, and they married on July 20, 1957.

Shortly after marriage, the couple moved to Washington DC and in 1958 Helen gave birth to their first child, Constance “Connie” Harriet Young. In the fall of 1959 they moved to Clinton, MD and their second child, Donald Stuart “Stu” Young, was born in 1960. Adoption in 1965 of Susan Lynn “Susie” Young, born in 1959 and adoption in 1967 of Anthony Edward “Tony” Young, born in 1960, rounded out her family of four children. While living in Clinton, the family engaged in biking, camping, Boys and Girls Club sports, PTA, the Oxon Hill Swim Club (where Helen served as a board member), and myriad other physical activities and travels. She taught piano from home for many years, while Don was an attorney for the Federal Power Commission. Their house was always open to visitors, extended family and friends, and numerous gatherings and parties were part of the scene. She completed her BA degree in Music at Wyoming in 1974 after a hiatus of 17 years, a remarkable example of persistence. At about this time she asked that people call her “Liz” rather than Helen.

She left her family in 1974 and moved to Northern Virginia, divorcing Don, and working a series of jobs along with a short-lived second marriage. In 1989 she married Bob Shuster, a marriage that lasted 8 years and also sadly ended in divorce. She then moved to Franklin, WV for several years and settled in the Stanardsville, VA area in 2001. She remained there for nearly two decades, hiking the surrounding mountains, maintaining trails, playing piano for local churches, and enjoying the Greene Mountain Lake neighborhood.

In 2019 she suffered severe injuries from an auto accident which debilitated her in terms of both mobility and sensory capabilities. After an amazing period of rehabilitation and mending, she was able to continue her life in assisted and independent living environments at The Colonnades.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Edward and Irmgard (nee Butenuth) Prostel, and her sister Evelyn “Lynn” Will.

Her surviving family includes her younger sister Helga Bindschadler (with husband Darryl), her four children, and grandchildren Patrick Young and Casey (nee Young) Carter (with husband Phillip), children of Stu and wife Jennifer Baliles Young; Corinne and Alyssa Dubovsky, children of Connie and husband James (Jim) Dubovsky; and Savva Young, child of Tony and wife Elena (nee Chernikova) Young.

Since Liz wanted her body donated to science, a Celebration of Life will be held in the Spring. Her family prays that after her many battles in life with challenges both mental and physical, she can now be at peace.