Randy W. Youngblood

Randy Wayne Youngblood, age 56, beloved brother of Sherrie Lynn Mason (Ben) of Bartlett and James Ronald Youngblood of Cordova departed this life suddenly in his sleep of natural causes on Monday morning, January 20, 2014.

Mr. Youngblood was born August 5, 1957 in Memphis, the son of James Shields Youngblood and Dorothy Tharnish Youngblood of Memphis. He attended Kingsbury Elementary School, Kingsbury Junior High School and was a graduate of Kingsbury High School Class of 1975. At Kingsbury, Randy was a member of the 12 Year Club, played on the Tennis Team (never had lessons) and on the Baseball Team as a left-handed catcher (Since 1981, only 23 left-handed catchers have ever played professional baseball). As a young person, Randy was a roadie for the rock group, YES, for one year.

Randy was a unique individual, diagnosed with Paranoria-Schizophrenia in 1984. Randy's Life was, as the Commercial Appeal article in November of 1993 ("A Walking Reality"). A second Commercial Appeal article in December of 1996 detailed Randy's Poetic and Playwrite Career with Memphis Theater Works. He published and staged plays, wrote poetry which consisted of: Radio Refinement, Long-Long Notice, The Awesome Train, Wizard of Hope (a parody of Wizard of Oz), and Computrix's Landing Affair for Everybody. From Radio Refinement: Dreams are Forever, hold them close to you, Sunshine come back another day, Happiness just around the corner, not here for us to grab. Bounce back others to another day.

In addition to his parents, brother and sister, Mr. Youngblood is survived by two nieces, Kim Love (Brian) of Bartlett, Jenny Lee Youngblood, DVM (Jason) of Agoura, CA; two nephews, James David Youngblood (Ashlee) of Cordova, Ben Walter Mason II (Tracie) of Bartlett; and two great nephews, Tristan and Sam.

Memorial Services for Mr. Youngblood will be conducted at a later date.

The family requests that memorials be directed to the Our Own Voice Theatre Troupe, 2085 Monroe Avenue, Memphis, TN 38104.