Archie Lane Young

Archie Lane Young (“Lane” to his family) passed away following a brief illness on January 9, 2023, in Asheville, NC. He was born on April 18, 1940, in Centre, Alabama, the son of Roscoe and Catherine Bolton Young. He grew up in Fort Payne, Alabama, and the Fischer Crossroads Community on Lookout Mountain. Lane graduated from DeKalb County High School in 1958. While at DeKalb he met the love of his life, his wife of sixty years, Brenda Holtzclaw, who he never stopped referring to as “the cutest sophomore.” In 1962 he graduated from Auburn University with a degree in Electrical Engineering. The same week as his graduation in June of that year, he and Brenda married and the Newlyweds moved to Dallas, Texas where a job with LTV awaited. Lane rode the wave of President Kennedy’s 1960s engineering boom and landed a job at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. The couple settled first in Guntersville, where their son, Gregory was born. Lane soon took a job with the US Army Missile Command in Huntsville, and they relocated to the Rocket City where their daughter, Leslie was born. Lane, who by this time went by “Archie” to work colleagues and Huntsville friends, remained at MICOM for many years. After a sojourn in President Reagan’s Strategic Defense Command, he accepted the job he considered the highlight of his career, working as a software engineer in the Patriot Missile System Project Office, where he remained for most of the rest of his career. Following his retirement from government service, he continued in the Air Defense business in the private sector. Family always came first for Lane, who was a devoted husband to Brenda, father to Gregory and Leslie, father-in-law to Barry Sharpe, and grandfather to the light of his life, his granddaughter Nella Sharpe. Lane is survived by his beloved wife, Brenda, children, Gregory of Atlanta, GA, and Leslie Sharpe, son-in-law Barry Sharpe, and granddaughter, Nella Sharpe, all of Asheville, NC, his brother, Allan Young, his sister, Ann Henderson, brother-in-law, Joel Holtzclaw, and numerous nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his parents, Roscoe and Catherine Bolton Young, his brother Max Young, and his mother and father-in-law, Frances, and John Holtzclaw. Lane was a lifelong devotee of all things Auburn, particularly the football and basketball programs, a legacy he passed on to his children. He loved doing genealogy research on the family trees of his family and that of Brenda’s family, a passion that reignited in his retirement. His work with Patriot took him to Las Cruces and Southern New Mexico, where he fell in love with the landscape, history, and food. He is remembered by his family as the most devoted husband, caring father, and adoring grandfather anyone could wish for. He was always most concerned about everyone else, taking care of his family till the very end. His funeral service will be held in Asheville, North Carolina on Sunday, January 15th at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church at 2:00 p.m., with visitation from 1:00 – 1:30. The service will be live-streamed and available for later viewing at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMsbjVOIk0o. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the nonprofit, Working Wheels, 76 Weaverville Road, Asheville, NC 28804.

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Archie Lane Young

April 18, 1940 - January 9, 2023