Louise Young, age 93, of Overland Park, KS, passed away on December 27, 2024, at home.  She was born on November 13, 1931, in Ft. Scott, KS, the fourth of seven children in a farming family.  Widowed at age 48, for the past forty years she shared her life and home with her brother Bill Bilyew, including providing loving, dedicated care for him in the final years of his life.  He passed away on October 11, 2024, after a year on home hospice. 

Louise had a broad circle of family (her siblings, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, great-great-grandchildren, and nieces and nephews), friends, and longtime neighbors who loved her deeply and whom she loved equally deeply.  She never gave up on anyone, always saw the best in others, and was a second parent to many.  Her commitment to others was reflected in that greatest of treasures, multiple decades-long friendships.  She worked incredibly hard in her life, from a farm childhood in the Depression, to becoming self-supporting after the early death of her husband and then building and running with her brother Bill a home repair business for over twenty years.  It is a testament to Louise and Bill that many long friendships grew out of the business they ran together.  Just as she never gave up on anyone, she never gave up on any task.  She was a powerful, positive force in the world and in the lives of the many who loved her deeply.  She had so many amazing qualities, but high among them were her optimism and resilience. 

Despite having lived through many great hardships and losses, and even as the orbit of everyday life grew more focused with the pandemic and her brother Bill’s declining health, she found happiness in the simple pleasures of their time together, visits with family and friends, her home which she worked so hard to secure and maintain over decades, her independence, cheering on the K.C. Chiefs, playing cards, and cooking, always cooking, especially for others.

She was first and foremost always herself.  She was also so many things to so many people: daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother, second mother, aunt, neighbor, caregiver, worker, and friend. In each of these roles, she was beloved, steadfast, generous. She has joined others she loved who went before her.  And she lives on in all of us whose lives she touched. 

Decisions about a memorial will be made at a later time.