GUILDERLAND — Marie H. (Luft) Young, who put her family above all else in her life, died peacefully on Saturday, June 9, after a long illness at Our Lady of Mercy Life Center in Guilderland. She was 97.

“Marie’s strength was an inspiration to her family,” her daughter Melanie Jakway wrote in a tribute. “She exhibited kindness, grace, and perseverance throughout her life and accepted the medical challenges that were a part of her 90s.”

She was born in Charleston Four Corners in Montgomery County, New York to Sanford and Gladys Horton. She graduated from Fonda-Fultonville School where she met Maylon Luft whom she would later marry.

She graduated from the Mildred Elley School in 1929. Marie and Maylon Luft had four daughters: Melanie, Mary Lou, Melinda, and Carla. Maylon Luft died in 1968. Marie met and married Aloysius Young in 1970. She happily welcomed Al’s daughter, Barbara Gluck, to make the family complete with five girls.  

She worked for Beech-Nut Inc. for a number of years. Maylon Luft was supervisor for the town of Charleston and, upon his death, she assumed the duties of supervisor and later was elected to that post. She was also a tax collector for the Schoharie Central School District. She spent many years as a school secretary in Schoharie Central High School and later in the elementary school.

“She loved gardening, birds, and nature,” her daughter wrote. “Above and beyond all in her life was the joy and blessing of her family. She will be missed very much.”

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Marie Young is survived by her sister, Ellen Ullman, and by her brother, Carl Horton, as well as many nieces and nephews; by her loving daughters, Melanie Jakway, and her husband, Steven, Mary Lou Bohsali, Melinda Olsen, and her husband, Allan, Carla Luft, and Barbara Gluck; by her cherished grandchildren, Jordan Jakway and his wife, Josie, Omesh Bohsali, Nabil Bohsali, Matthew Zaremba, and his wife, Shannon; and by her great-grandchildren, Jack and Sophia Zaremba.

Her granddaughter Elizabeth Gluck tragically died before her, in 2017.                                                                                                                                           

A calling hour will be held on Saturday from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the DeMarco-Stone Funeral Home at 5216 Western Tpke. (Route 20) in Guilderland. A memorial service will begin at the funeral home at 11:30 a.m.

Special thanks are extended to the caring staff at Our Lady of Mercy Life Center in Guilderland.