The Tampa Bay Times investigates Bill Young’s personal history. (Photo of Young via Realtor Action Center)
By Ashley Lopez
Florida Center for Investigative Reporting
Long-time Florida Congressman Bill Young died in October of last year.
It didn’t come as a shock to many. The 82-year old and longest-tenured Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives had announced earlier that year that he would not be seeking reelection due to his ailing health.
Once he died, obituaries in local and national papers all discussed his long service in Congress, some mentioned that he spent years as the lone Republican in the Florida Senate. Most reported on his dedication to defense spending. Many also reported on his dedication to family.
However, some of Young’s personal history was not reported on.
According to a great article from The Tampa Bay Times, most obituaries– and even the eulogies at his funeral– had glossed over or left out the fact that Young had two families and little contact with the first. In many ways Young represented a bygone era when reporters stayed away from the personal issues of political figures. Today, the personal life of public figures is public too, often to hold politicians accountable for legislative stands they take on moral issues.
Andrew Meacham writes in The Times:
After Bill Young died Oct. 18 at 82, he was given a funeral befitting a legend. Speakers — including House Speaker John Boehner and high-ranking military officials — praised his skills at crafting legislation and advocating for his constituents.
There was a second theme amid the accolades: Bill Young, family man.
A lengthy photo montage showed the congressman with the three sons (one adopted) and eight grandchildren who resulted from his marriage to Beverly.
But no one mentioned the three children, seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren from his marriage to the former Marian Ford. Nor were any of those family members included in the photo presentation.
Then an unscripted moment changed the tenor of the service. It happened 1 hour and 39 minutes in, after speeches from two of Young’s sons and a Marine corporal close to the family.
One son stayed behind at the lectern.
“I would also like to say that he also has three other children who are adults,” Robert Young announced. He gave their names — Pam, Terry, Kimber — and said that they are “not really speakers” and that he “didn’t want to put them on the spot.”
“Actually, I don’t know what their last names are,” he added, eliciting nervous titters from the section closest to the stage reserved for family and friends, including more than 30 members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Young divorced his first wife of 36 years and married his secretary about a week later. According to the article, Young didn’t make any substantive contact with his first three children after that. In fact, he never got to know that set of grandchildren and barely acknowledged his grown children.
This isn’t exactly bizarre. Many men remarry and sometimes have limited contact with the first family they left behind. However, it’s a little strange that his entire family was not consistently mentioned in his obits.
Here are some excerpts of news clippings and the mentions of his family.
According to one Associated Press story:
Young and his wife, Beverly, had three children.
Another AP story wrote:
Mr. Young was married twice and had three sons.
However, some papers did get the whole family history prior to that hiccup in the funeral. The Washington Post, for example, included a lengthier personal history on its obit and did mention both families.
Mr. Young’s first marriage, to Marian Ford, ended in divorce shortly before his 1985 marriage to Beverly Angello. In addition to his wife, of Indian Rocks Beach, Fla., survivors include three children from his first marriage and two sons from his second.
The Times article went on to explain that a lot of Young’s divorce and private life was rarely aired out– even in the middle of his divorce with his wife and subsequent marriage to his mistress (with whom he had a child). Many reporters at the time were aware that the congressman had gotten his secretary pregnant, but felt it didn’t warrant a story because it was personal and didn’t seem to affect his work or judgement.
Despite chatter of his divorce and second marriage, Young was a conservative staple and won several awards for tackling “moral issues” and championing “family values.” Who knows if these conservative groups knew about his divorce.
Young even survived the culture war in the 90s, where many politicians were under fire for having affairs while in office.
For decades, Young’s first family has been all but a secret. A relic of his past. But well after his death, a seemingly big part of his life is now on the record.