Graveside Service for Dr. Billie Jean Young was held Saturday, April 10, 2021 at 12:00 noon at Woodall Cemetery in Pennington, AL with Rev. Marvin Johnson officiating.

Billie Jean was born on July 21, 1947 to the late Oliver Richard Young, Sr. and Susie Mae White Young. She was called home to eternal rest on March 30, 2021. Billie Jean was preceded in death by her parents, Oliver and Susie Young and a son, Keith Allen Young.

In 1964, at the age of 16, Billie Jean graduated from Choctaw County Training School in Lisman, AL. She proceeded to earn her Associate Arts Degree from Selma University. She went on and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Judson College in Marion, AL. Becoming one of the first African Americans to graduate from Judson College. In 1979, she became the second African American woman to earn a Juris Doctorate from Samford University's Cumberland School of Law in Birmingham, AL.

Dr. Young found her first opportunity for personal and professional growth at age twenty when she moved to Selma, AL and worked for seven years at the Southwest Alabama Farmer's Cooperative Association (SWAFCA). The cooperative was formed by local civil rights activists to help low income, small farmers in the ten west Alabama counties receive a fair price for their produce. This opportunity must have planted a seed in her which she would continue to nourish and harvest until her last breath. It began a life defined by a fight for equal rights and a relentless effort to promote, impede, direct, or intervene in social political, or environmental reform with a sincere desire to make changes in society toward the greater good.

Dr. Young was active in community affairs, women's rights, children's issues, and the arts. The Rural Development Leadership Network (RDLN), where she served as the founding Chairwoman exemplifies her brand. The RDLN is a national multicultural social change organization supporting community-based development in poor rural areas through hands-on projects, education and skills building, leadership development and networking. She served as the Southwest Alabama Association of Rural & Minority Women president after beginning as a community organizer. She was a land specialist for the Rural America of Washington, D.C. serving as its Southeastern Director. There, she was instrumental in organizing rural black women across the Deep South in the tri-state Southern Rural Black Women's Initiative. In the 1980s, she was co-founder and Executive Director of the seven-state Southern Rural Women's Network in Jackson, Mississippi.

Dr. Young was the founder and visionary of Beyond Fifty Years, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote the city of Marion, Alabama and its people economically, socially, and culturally. Young co-founded Alabama's Branch Heights Dance Company and was the Artistic Director and co-founder of Blackbelt Arts & Cultural Center in Selma, Alabama. She also functioned on the Alabama School of
Fine Arts boards and the Alabama Humanities Foundation.

Young worked at various colleges and universities on faculty or in a visiting role throughout her career. Specifically, she served as an adjunct professor, artist-in-residence or visiting professor at such institutions as the University of Southern California, the University at Albany-SUNY in New York, Colby College in Maine, the University of Alabama, Mississippi State University, Selma University, Jackson State University, Stann Creek Ecumenical College in Belize, and Judson College. She joined Judson College faculty in 2006 and served as Associate Professor of Fine and Performing Arts, Artist in Residence until her final day.

Young was widely known for her motivational speeches, books, poetry reading, and dramatic productions. She was the recipient of numerous local, state, and national awards, citations, and honors, including the Congressional Black Caucus' On the Road to Freedom Award, the Mississippi Governors' Award for Artistic Achievement and the Lucy Terry Prince Unsung Heroine Award for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights. In 2002, she was named the Judson College Alumnae Association's Outstanding Alumna in recognition of her life's work. She was inducted into the Alabama Black Belt Hall of Fame.

During her seven decades of living, Dr. Young was a sister, a mother, an artist, an actress, a poet, a writer, an editor, a playwright, a director, a teacher, a community organizer, a college lecturer, a full Professor, and a fearless, outspoken civil and human rights activist.

She is survived by her son, SFC (Ret.) Anthony Duane Young; siblings, SGM (Ret.) Ivory Lee Young, Sr., Eva D. Long, Barbara Ann Young, Oliver Young, Rev. Shirley M. Young and SFC (Ret) Richard H. Young (Tamara); grandchildren, Anthony D. Young, Jr., Keith D. Young, Jahleta M. Brackett, Kaylah B. Young, Rachael C. Martinez, JarKeith Ruffin, Malachi DuBose; great grandchildren, Taylor A. Ingram, Gabriel E. Ingram, Greyson Keith Ruffin, Alessia G. Martinez, Athena C. Whiteman, Julian V.G. Martinez, Denise Gabrielle Adele Ruffin; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, other family and friends.