Memorial service for Matt Young, age 49, of Lindale, Texas will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 18, 2025 at the Hopkins County Civic Center Auditorium with Greg Owens officiating. Visitation will follow the service. Honorary pallbearers will be his brothers-in-law. Matt, who was diagnosed with cancer in June of 2022, passed away at Christus Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler on Sunday, January 5, 2025.
Matthew Thomas Young was born on March 19, 1975 in Paris, Texas to Tom and Debbie (Wrenn) Young. He married Jamie McGraw in Cooper, Texas on June 16, 2001. Matt graduated as the SSHS Salutatorian in 1993, and went on to The University of Texas where he earned a kinesiology degree.
Matt believed in following the “greatest commandments” – loving God and loving others – and he modeled this in his daily life. When his desire to be a life-long learner was paired with his passion for football, it led him to follow his parents’ footsteps into the field of education. Over the course of his 27-year teaching career, Matt taught a variety of high school math classes, coached football and track, and even had short stints with basketball and baseball.
Matt attended the First United Methodist Church in Mt. Sylvan, and was a member of the Texas High School Coaches Association. He enjoyed spending time dancing in the kitchen with Jamie, hosting dinner and game nights with friends or football players, reading historical nonfiction and positive mindset books, traveling with his family (and the Holts,) cooking up his favorite recipes, and the occasional golf scramble with coaches or a few brothers-in-law.
Over the years, there were times when athletes didn’t have rides or breakfast, when little soccer players needed a camp coach, when Jamie needed a co-pilot during a sweltering week of Backyard Bible Club … and there was always Matt. Without fanfare or publicity, he was graciously serving, patiently leading, hand-rubbing-belly-drumming joyful, and always kind. His life, fueled by his love for Jesus, is a great example to us all.
Matt is survived by his wife, Jamie; children, Rorie, Khira, Tate, Zack, and Kymora; parents, Tom and Debbie Young; sisters, Jessica Swatsell and husband Chad and Kathleen Wade and husband A.B.; mother-in-law & father-in-law, Jimmie and Renee McGraw; beloved aunts, uncles, cousins, and enough nieces and nephews to keep him invited to birthday parties year-round.
He was preceded in death by his grandparents, Charles and Mary Jo Young and Clyde and Barbara Wrenn.
