Heartsill Young passed away on Thursday, January 27, 2011 at the age  
of 93. Heartsill Henry Young was born on Texas Independence Day, March  
2, 1917, in San Augustine, Texas, to Robert Hall Young and Bertha Love  
Heartsill Young. He grew up and attended school in San Augustine,  
graduating as valedictorian in 1933 at the age of 16. Heartsill spent  
one semester at Texas A&M, and one semester at the University of  
Colorado, before enrolling at the University of Texas, where he earned  
a degree in journalism in 1938. After returning home to San Augustine,  
Heartsill began a job with the National Youth Administration. While  
there, he met Fay Grote, who was working as Area Supervisor for the  
WPA Library Program. It had to be love at first sight, because they  
met in October of 1940 and were married January 19, 1941 in her  
hometown of Fredericksburg. Heartsill and Fay left San Augustine and  
moved to Fort Worth, where their first son, John Henry Young, was born  
in November, 1941. When World War II came, he enlisted in the Navy in  
1944 and was a Communications Officer on the troop transport the USS  
Freestone. His service was in the Pacific, and his ship delivered  
troops to Okinawa. After the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, he  
went ashore in Nagasaki and saw first hand the total destruction of  
that city, which had a lasting effect on him. A second son, David  
Allen Young, was born in December 1944, while Heartsill was overseas.  
Heartsill worked for several years in various business positions  
before taking an aptitude test that showed he was well suited to  
librarianship. While Fay worked to support the family, he entered the  
graduate school of Library Science at UT, and received his M.S. in  
1953. He later pursued a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois,  
completing all requirements for his degree except the dissertation,  
which he chose not to undertake because he did not want to compromise  
another 2 or 3 years of life with his family. A career in  
librarianship suited Heartsill perfectly. He taught courses in the UT  
Library School on two occasions; he was Assistant Librarian for  
Technical Services and then Assistant Librarian for Public Services;  
for the last 10 years at UT he was Assistant Dean of the Graduate  
School of Library and Information Services. He also devoted much time  
to professional activities and was well respected, liked and honored  
in his field. He was President of the Texas Library Association and  
the Southwestern Library Association and served for a number of years  
as editor of the Texas Library Journal. He organized and co-chaired  
the First Texas Governor’s Conference on Libraries, an important step  
toward achieving statewide library systems in Texas, and he helped  
author the Texas Library Systems Act in 1969. He was named Texas  
Librarian of the Year in 1970. In 2002, the Texas Library Association  
celebrated 100 years of service by selecting and honoring 100 “giants”  
who had made a significant contribution to library services, and  
Heartsill was one of the honorees. After retiring from UT, Heartsill  
and Fay moved to Mason in 1988, and he found a perfect opportunity to  
share his experience and knowledge of libraries with the opening of  
the M. Bevan Eckert Memorial Library. He provided much technical know- 
how and contributed thousands of hours of volunteer service, which  
resulted in his being named by the Mason Chamber of Commerce as  
Citizen of the Year in 1990. He continued working almost daily at the  
library until 2004. Family was first and foremost with Heartsill, and  
for many years the family spent almost all holidays in San Augustine  
with his extended East Texas family members. He firmly believed that  
children, grandchildren and great grandchildren were the greatest  
rewards life had to offer, and he was dearly loved by all of them.  
Heartsill was preceded in death by Fay in December, 2006. He was also  
preceded in death by four sisters, Margaret Phillips, Nannie Lou  
Young, Francis McCoy, and Sallie Garrett Parker. He is survived by  
sons David and wife Barbara of Mason, and son John and wife Barbara of  
San Benito, Texas, grandchildren Aimee McMillan and husband Scott of  
Plano, and Travis Young and wife Jen, also of Plano, three great- 
grandchildren, Kate and Cameron McMillan, and Alexander Young, sister  
Ellen Love Burrows of Austin, sister-in-law Jean Pugh of San Antonio,  
and by a number of nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be held  
on Friday, February 4, 2011 at 10:30 a.m. at First United Methodist  
Church in Mason. Burial will follow in Gooch Cemetery. Serving as  
pallbearers will be Travis Young, Scott McMillan, Bill Gossett,  
Charles Reichenau, Bill Brollier, and Cody Martin. Visitation with the  
family will be on Thursday, February 3 from 5:00-6:30 p.m. at Mason  
Funeral Home. Suggested memorials are to the Mason County Memorial  
Library Endowment, Inc. (c/o Jan Appleby) or to Steady Steps.  
Condolences may be sent to the family on-line at masonfuneralhome.net.  
Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Mason Funeral Home.
Barbara Immroth, Ph.D.
Professor
School of Information
University of Texas at Austin
  UTA 5.412  D8600
1616 Guadalupe St. Suite 5.202
Austin TX  78701-1213

(512) 471-3875 wk
(512) 471-3971 fax