IN LOVING MEMORY
Loyd Grey Young
“L. Grey”
October 5, 1939 — September 14, 2026
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With love and gratitude for a life well lived, we announce the passing of Loyd Grey Young.
Loyd Grey Young, known to family and friends as “L. Grey,” passed away peacefully at his home in Queen Creek, Arizona, on September 14, 2026. He was born on October 5, 1939, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to a life that would take him from Utah to Maryland and Oregon, to Europe and eventually to Arizona, where he built a home, a career, and a lifetime of memories with the people he loved most.
L. Grey’s family moved to Greenbelt, MD when he was 4 years old. Some of his fondest memories happened during summers at the Smithsonian, in the bleachers at Senators’ games and spending evenings with his father, mother, brother J.H. and sister Mary Jane.
After 13 years, the family moved to Portland, OR where he attended Franklin High School. He was on the debate team and lettered in wrestling. He was also involved in several school plays where he excelled as an actor. He played the accordion and the piano and loved writing poetry. He was friendly, outgoing and loved people. He once wrote in a letter to a friend, “If someone asks me how I am doing, I always respond, ‘happy’!” He had a great sense of doing what was right and was always on the lookout to help the underdog.
L. Grey served a faithful, full-time mission to the French East mission from 1959–1962. Upon his release, his Mission President noted, “Elder Young has fulfilled an unusually fine mission and is a real leader in our mission; he keeps everyone on their toes. He has an extraordinary personality and is well loved and admired by all of his associates. Because of his friendly nature, his love, and thoughtfulness, he shall not be forgotten in this mission.”
L. Grey graduated from Brigham Young University with a master’s degree in English literature. He was proud of his education and his ability to learn, and throughout his life he remained intensely curious. He was accepted to Duke University, an accomplishment he was particularly proud of, and attended for a short time. He also taught at Elon College in North Carolina before making his way west.
In 1968, L. Grey moved to Mesa, Arizona, where he established himself through a remarkable work ethic and determination. Relatives recall that as a young father, he often had up to 4 jobs at a time. Over the years, he worked at a community college, The Superstition Inn, First National Bank, and First Interstate Bank. He also owned several rental apartments and homes, including two properties that became family landmarks and were affectionately known as The Beverly and The Silver Bell.
In 1994, after one day of early retirement from banking, he began consulting for a real estate firm and taught himself to day trade. He approached nearly everything in life with a system. If there was a task to be done, he had a method for doing it—and he was always ready to teach that method to someone else.
His work ethic was the greatest gift he passed on to his children. He taught them to care for the old apartments, fix sewer lines, paint, trim bushes, clean up messes that were sometimes unbelievably dirty, and do whatever needed to be done. What might have seemed like hard work to others became—for his teenagers—jobs, lessons, stories, and memories that lasted a lifetime.
But work was only one part of L. Grey’s life. His greatest joy was his family.
He loved adventures, especially those that took him and his children and grandchildren into the mountains and desert. Sometimes those adventures included getting stuck—intentionally—in remote locations, but those moments often became some of his best stories. He had a gift for finding unusual treasures along the way and bringing them home. What others might have seen as junk became part of a collection and, more importantly, the beginning of another great story. His house became a museum of memories gathered from a lifetime of adventures. Some of the best memories were made with very little preparation and even fewer supplies—heading out into the desert with a cast-iron pan, a handful of hamburger, a potato, a knife, and whatever else happened to be in the back of his car.
He loved fishing, riding horses, four-wheeling, attending sporting events, music concerts, dance recitals, plays, and graduations. If one of his children or grandchildren was participating, L. Grey wanted to be there. He showed his love not only in words, but by showing up—again and again, for the big moments and the ordinary ones.
The family also gathered at The Lodge in Midway, Utah, a special place where generations could come together around the fire pit, swim in the hot spring pool, share big meals and even bigger parties, and simply enjoy being together. Those gatherings became treasured family memories.
L. Grey had a positive outlook and a remarkable ability to meet challenges head-on. He was intelligent, resourceful, and always interested in learning what he could do. He believed in being prepared, solving problems, and knowing that there was almost always a way forward. He enjoyed thought-provoking conversations about philosophy, literature, and the gospel and he always had great advice. He loved to laugh, often hardest at his own jokes. He cried easily when something was funny or touched him deeply. He was fun to be around and had a gift for making each person feel special and loved.
He was previously married to Roberta Wilkins Young, whom he married in 1964. They later divorced and in 1989, he married JoAnn Lockhart Young. Together they shared 37 years of marriage, and she was at home with him when he passed.
He is survived by his devoted wife of 37 years, JoAnn Lockhart Young, his children Rodney (Paula), Loyd, Stacie Woolley (Jeff), Sundee Williams (David), Wesley (April), Zoie Farmer (Jeff), 27 grandchildren, 20 great-grandchildren, his loving sister Mary Jane Phillips, brother-in-law Wallace Lockhart, and many dear nieces, nephews and cousins. He was preceded in death by his parents Loyd L. and Zoie Young and his brother J.H. Young.
His family will remember him as a man who worked hard, loved deeply, taught constantly, and never seemed to run out of ideas for the next adventure. They will remember his systems and his lessons, his determination and his optimism, his willingness to get his hands dirty, and his insistence that there was always a way to figure something out.
Most of all, they will remember the time he gave them.
He was there for the games, concerts, recitals, plays, graduations, fishing trips, horseback rides, four-wheeling adventures, desert excursions, family parties, and countless everyday moments in between. He created opportunities for his family to work together, play together, learn together, and simply be together.
L. Grey will be deeply missed, forever remembered, and joyfully reunited with those who have gone before him. We are grateful for his life and for the enduring example he provided.
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SERVICES
Services will be held on Saturday, September 26, 2026, at 2:00 p.m. MST at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 21550 E. Queen Creek Rd., Queen Creek, AZ 85142.
Queen Creek Station Ward is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Funeral of Loyd Young
Time: Sep 26, 2026 02:00 PM Arizona
Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/91938433436?pwd=UXSb8QfCKG7fpTL6HMT7mgVbMt1bIA.1
Meeting ID: 919 3843 3436
Passcode: 808153