WWNEWSFALL2008

When I was born in 1959, my Dad was employed by the U.S. Bureau of Mines

at the University of North Dakota. In 1966 he left "the Bureau" and went into business with his Best Man and oldest brother-Dick Young.

Young Manufacturing was formed.

The company was a tool and die shop that produced parts for many area manufacturers including Arctic Cat Snowmobiles. The shop grew in the years to come. As an addition was being added to the site, dad observed what at the time was the current way of hanging drywall-basically brute force via a 2x4 "T" and literally your head. Dad decided to see what sort of mechanism could be assembled to help support the heavy sheets while they were screwed to the ceiling. An old boat winch and some electrical tubing where soon bent,welded, and bolted together and the Panellift was born.

In 1972 Dad and Dick separated operations when development of the Panellift Drywall lift became Dad's full time occupation. Although the entire family worked "in the shop" through our high school and college years, two of my brothers- Larry and Dana joined the business full time in the 1980's.

<< Genesis 1 >>

INSPRIATION

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

VISION

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good:

DESIGN

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: .... 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;

male and female created he them.

That element is constantly looking for a means to shine.

<< John 1 >>

EXECUTION

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

The good news is the light has found us one and all.

<< Matthew 5: >>

FINISH

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

I come from an inventive and creative family who's livelihood comes from working with their hands as well as their minds and certainly their hearts.

My paternal grandfather was Herbert Young--seen below as a child with his dad-and my great grand father-Hermann Young.

Hermann immigrated to the United States from Germany.

Herbert was a street car driver in Minneapolis, Minnesota in the 1920's. He knew the entire street grid - no mean memorization feat even then. In the 1930's Herbert moved his family to Grand Forks, North Dakota when he took on the trade of a Millwright at the North Dakota Mill and Elevator .

The North Dakota Mill and Elevator started operations on October 22, 1922

and is now the largest flour mill in the United States..

This is reportedly a 1915 post card of the Mill. I'm not convinced the picture dates that far back as there seems to possibly be an actual automobile in the lower center amongst carriages. At any rate it is probably a very close proximity to what Herbert saw his first day of work.

My maternal grandfather was Alvin McIntyre. A sturdy hardworking Irishman-Alvin married Ruth Satre-one of 7 Norwegian Satre sisters from Thief River Falls Minnesota.

Alvin and Ruth settled on a farmstead 5 miles south of Grand Forks where they raised their two daughters-Lois and Susan.

Alvin ran a dairy operation for many years then switched to grain farming before retiring in the mid 1960's.

My father-Roland Young was born 10/12/1928 in

Anoka, Minnesota before the move to Grand Forks.

My mother-Lois McIntyre was born 4/29/1933 in Grand Forks

Roland and Lois were married 3/9/1957

This picture of Mom and Dad was taken in 1986-

a couple years before Mom died from an inoperable brain tumor.

Mom left us on August 7,1988, but not before firmly establishing her families' reputation.

Mom made other people better people. Then left that job to us. It is not an easy job. In fact it is rather difficult to raise others expectations of themselves and to shine the light on their own possibilities without crushing them with the enormity of the task at the same time. But despite the constant availability of fear and uncertainty the world has to offer-we continue to attempt to do as she did-find a way to make it a better place.

Here is a small set of pieces made by my Dad-Note the fully functional Peanut Grinder and adjustable wrench. Those were gifts he made one year for Grampa. That same year Dick made a fully functional miniature block and tackle-like the one he made in the picture above but the same size as the

wrench Dad made.

It is my personal belief that we each have a creative element "wired" into us from birth. That creative element can be expressed in an incredible number of ways.

The ego is a constant fiend (no I didn't misspell "friend") that must be squelched while at the same time the innate creative urge is nurtured and encouraged---

a difficult balancing act that I know I too often misappropriate.

Even so I think the desire to create is a natural and universal human characteristic that is

most easily explained in these five steps:

INSPRIATION

VISION

DESIGN

EXECUTION

FINISH

and found in this series of scriptures.

For some odd reason I woke up about at about 2:30 one recent morning and could not get back to sleep. So I did what any woodworker/furniture maker would do. I started to count the pieces of furniture I've made over the last 12 years. I go back 12 years as a starting point because that's about when I first made a piece of furniture that looked like a piece of furniture...and still does. by 5:00 am I began to drift back to sleep after having counted up to 81 pieces of furniture. Later that morning I decided to start a spread sheet and actually try to number and order them. Not all these pieces are/were of a quality that I'd want on my web page but my criteria to make the list is that I had to start and complete the piece and it had to function in some location for at least a couple of months.-A fairly loose criteria I suppose but I knew the pieces did not have to be commissioned. I'll probably break down those too. My list is currently at 129 finished pieces. While I know I won't be able to date most of them closer than a year or so, I think I have them in fairly accurate chronological order. Here is OPUS 100

A Large Wall to Wall Bookcase from September 2006

If I've made a piece for you and you'd like to know what "OPUS" number it landed on-send me an e-mail and I'll look it up.

Anyway 126 pieces over 12 years averages out to just over ten pieces per year, or .875 piece(s) per month..... Now I'm tired....

Herbert Young was a mathematical wiz and when he wasn't at work in the Mill he could be found in his small garage workshop tuning out sweet clever pieces like the chess board below.

This is a three generation piece. My dad made the walnut footstool. His dad (my Grampa Young) made the walnut and maple chess board, and I turned the chess pieces from broom poles when I was about 20.