Funeral Procession for Kenneth M. Young Passes the Fire, Police Stations He Served

Under a gray, steely sky, the funeral procession for wended its way Friday through Pine Township, past the Babcock fire station that he was instrumental in creating and by the where he served.

Led by a police motorcycle escort, the line of family, friends, fire trucks from and police vehicles from the Northern Regional department made its way to Cross Roads cemetery in Pine. Fire and police vehicles from neighboring departments also joined the procession for the 53-year-old who died Sunday after battling cancer for more than a year.

Young was a police officer for 18 years and the fire chief for 22 of the last 30 years he volunteered for Wexford Volunteer Fire Co.

Mourners gathered after the service for a reception at the new fire hall on North Chapel Drive in Pine Township.

The fire company recently voted to honor Young by dedicating its new firehouse to him, said Dave Buttermore, the fire company's president. The department also named Young its fire chief emeritus, Buttermore said.

Young was remembered as the beloved husband of his high school sweetheart, Karen, a proud dad and grandpa and a servant to the larger community with the Northern Regional Police Department and Wexford Volunteer Fire Co.

At the funeral service at St. Paul's Methodist Church in Allison Park, pastor Bruce Gascoine spoke of how Young faced cancer—and the chemotherapy and surgeries involved in his treatment—without complaint or bitterness.

"He just did it," the pastor said. "He faced down the malignancy."

Northern Regional police officer Matthew Durzo praised Young's work as an accident reconstructionist.

"He was a wizard at reconstructing any type of accident," Durzo said during the service. 

Durzo held up toy cars as he talked about Young's "tricks of the trade" that also included a legal pad, calculators and equations. He said Young studied an accident scene and used complicated equations to figure out what had happened.

"That's all Chinese to me," Durzo said.

When he could not understand the complexities of what Young was telling him, Durzo said Young finally crashed the toy cars together and told him that was what happened.

"Well, why didn't you say so?" Durzo said he asked Young.

"They won't let me do that in court," Young replied.

Durzo continued with praise for Young's family life.

"First and foremost, he was a family man," he said, saying Young's family brought him "such pride and joy."

Turning to Young's family, Durzo said that no matter what was going on in Young's work life, "You guys were his focus, and I was always impressed by that."

Durzo spoke of Young's integrity, honor and courage. Acknowleding the sadness of the day, Durzo concluded: 

"I'd like to think we gained a guardian angel ... an angel that will guide us through this difficult time."