Mae Young of Holly Springs will be honored today — Mother’s Day — as will thousands of other mothers across Arkansas. There may be cards and phone calls, perhaps flowers and gifts, but most importantly, there will be a Mother’s Day celebration tailored just for the 73-year-old Young.
Several of Young’s seven children and their families will attend church services with her and then go with her somewhere for lunch.
“I usually do all the cooking,” Kevin Young of Conway said in the days leading up to the celebration. At 44, Kevin is the baby of the family.
“But I don’t know yet what we will do for lunch,” he said. “We may just go out to eat after church.”
The widow of Albert Young, Mae
basically raised their seven children on her own. Albert was sick for 14 years, never fully recovering from an automobile accident he had in 1967. The Youngs were married for 19 years before his death in 1981.
Although Mae started college after she graduated from high school, she dropped out during her sophomore year because of illness. The young couple then started a family — a family that grew almost yearly.
All seven of their children would go on to college. All have bachelor’s degrees, and some have master’s degrees. Mae would also return to college after 14 years, obtaining two academic degrees. She eventually retired after more than 25 years as a public-school teacher.
Mae said life was not easy at times, but today she feels “so proud and so blessed” to have the family that she has.
Alfred Young, 53, is the oldest of the seven children. He and his wife, Quinton, live in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. They have two daughters, Zarria, 16, and Zapporah, 28, who is working on a doctorate in chemistry. Alfred is a graduate of the University of Arkansas and is a computer programmer.
Terry Young, 52, and his wife, Pamela, live in Russellville. They have one daughter, Mekosha, 21, who is in college. Terry is a graduate of Arkansas Tech University in Russellville with a degree in business. He is employed at Bridgestone.
Rita Brown, 51, lives in Conway. She has one son, Miyanda, 14. Rita is also a graduate of Arkansas Tech with a bachelor’s degree in psychiatric rehabilitation. She is a research coordinator in the department of pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and has offices at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.
Marion Sykes, 50, and her husband, Carl, live in Pontiac, Michigan. They have one daughter, Victoria, 12. Marion is yet another of the family’s Arkansas Tech graduates, majoring in business. She is a supervisor for a Rite Aid pharmacy.
Steven Young, 49, lives in Dallas, Texas, where he is a professional recruiter. He is a graduate of Arkansas Tech as well.
Jeffrey Young, 45, and his wife, Monica, live in Memphis. They have four children — Jamal, 15, Maya, 14, Jeremiah, 10, and Makayla, 6. Jeffrey is a graduate of Arkansas Tech and is assistant vice president of branches for Federal Express Credit Union.
Kevin and his wife, Lelia, have two children, McKinley, 13, and Naomi, 11. Kevin graduated from Arkansas Tech with a bachelor’s degree in math; he also has a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Central Arkansas in Conway. Kevin is employed at Acxiom Corp.
Mae was raised by her grandfather, Javan Criswell, in the Holly Springs community, which is near Springfield in Conway County.
“My mom passed when I was 1,” Mae said. “My grandfather took me and raised me at the foot of the mountain, right down the road from where I live today.
“Addie Criswell was my mother’s name,” Mae said. “I never even saw a picture of her. I had to work hard to accept that in my mind.”
Mae’s father was Commodore Brewer, who is also deceased.
She had three siblings. Her brother, James Brewer, lives in the Bethlehem community, and her sister Mary Ann Sanders lives in Fort Smith. Mae’s sister Elizabeth Lacour is deceased.
Mae attended grades one through six in the Holly Springs community.
“Janie Walker taught the kids in a one-room schoolhouse,” Mae said. “She taught reading, and she taught the Bible. We were expected to memorize Scripture. She was like the community leader.
“She was a strict disciplinarian. I loved her. She’s one of the reasons I went back to school.”
In 1960, Mae graduated from Conway County Training School in Menifee, which was an all-black school.
“After high school graduation, I went to the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff” (then known as AM&N — the Arkansas Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal College), Mae said. “I came home that summer.
“I was so much in love. I married Albert in June of 1961. I thought the sun rose and set with him.
“I went back to UAPB in the fall but got sick and had to drop out. Then I got pregnant and had my children. I didn’t go back to school until 14 years later.”
Mae worked for about a year as a paraprofessional at Menifee Elementary School. It was during that time she decided she wanted to become a teacher.
“I enrolled in Hendrix College in 1978 and graduated in June 1981 with a degree in elementary education,” she said. “That was a big day for me and for the kids.”
She received her master’s degree in gifted-and-talented education from the University of Central Arkansas in 1992.
Mae taught school for two years at Guy-Perkins Elementary School.
“The children went to school with me except for the oldest, who was already a student at the University of Arkansas,” she said. “When I left Guy in 1983, I went to work for the South Conway County School District in Morrilton. The children went to Nemo Vista School in Center Ridge. By then, the oldest son was still in college.”
Mae’s daughters graduated from Guy-Perkins High School and her sons from Nemo Vista High School.
“All the kids did real well in college,” Mae said. “I thank God for that. They stayed focused. We talked about it. … how you have to get your mind set on something and focus … how you have to motivate yourself.
“I never told any of my kids that they had to go to college. They saw how I had to struggle. Sometimes we didn’t have food or utilities, but we had family to help us. It was kinda like the village and the child — sometimes it does take a village to raise a child.
“They did not want to displease me. To this day, they do not want to displease me.”
Rita said her mother “has been an inspiration” to all of her children.
“It was tough on us growing up,” Rita said, adding that she was the third-oldest child. “My two older brothers and I didn’t have a childhood. We had to take care of the others, but our aunts and uncles helped provide for us. They were like parents to us. We had lots of parents,” she said.
“I was 16 when my dad passed. We all had to grow up fast to help support Mom,” Rita said.
“She instilled goals in us. She told us to never give up. None of us was ever in trouble with the law. She never said we had to go to college, but we all went and earned degrees,” Rita said.
“We just knew we had to do whatever we needed to do so she wouldn’t be under too much stress. We worked while we were in college to help her. We had academic scholarships and Pell grants,” Rita said.
“She did what she could do, and by the grace of God, we did what we could do so we could have a better life, and so we would be able to take care of her in her old age,” Rita said, adding, with a laugh, that her mother would not want her to mention “old age.”
As the youngest of the Young siblings, Kevin said he remembers most of the hard times.
“Mom was kinda hard on us,” he said. “All my friends and cousins were out doing things I wanted to do, but she wouldn’t let me. But as I got older, I appreciated it. And now that I am a parent myself, I really appreciate it. There was wisdom in how she raised us.
“She was a strict disciplinarian. There was no foolishness going on at our house.”
Kevin said education was important to him and his siblings growing up.
“Education became a requirement,” he said. “It was non-negotiable. It was a requirement for survival, for living.”
Mae retired in 2002 from Northside Elementary School in Morrilton after 24 years of teaching there. She taught for a total of 26 years in Arkansas schools.
“I retired when I was 60. I loved teaching. I could do it all day, every day, but I had gotten burned out. It became about just getting the [students’] scores up,” she said.
“On Sunday afternoon, I would begin dreading getting up on Monday morning and going to work. I knew it was time [to retire]. I felt I was not being effective anymore. I just needed to get on with it,” Mae said.
“I was able to draw my husband’s Social Security, and with my teacher’s retirement, I’ve been OK,” she said.
“I have no responsibilities. I just do what I want to do.
“I enjoy crafts and working in my yard. I read some. I love shopping. I go to nursing homes and visit, and I run everywhere with my grandchildren.”
Mae is active in her church, Mount Carmel Baptist Church in Plumerville. She teaches an adult women’s class and sings in the choir. She is vice president of the choir and of the Daughters of Ruth mission group. She is on the Kitchen Committee that takes lunch to the needy in the community once a month.
“I never did remarry. My focus was always on my children. I have a special guy in my life now, but I am still selfish. I want to do what I want to do,” she said.
“I’ve been blessed. There are so many kids that have both a mother and a father, yet they still have problems or are out on the street,” Mae said. “I always told my kids, ‘I have a different plan for you all.’
“I’m not any better than anybody else. I just had a different set of plans for my children.”