Marty Young, his wife Diane and youngest son, Grant first came to Vernal and the Uintah Basin in February 2001. He came to be the senior minister of Vernal Christian Church, doing so until retiring from that role this past February, a twenty year pastorate.
During those years up to and continuing today, the Young’s have formed a partnership of ministry and service to various facets of Vernal Community life. From his first role in the joint leadership of a city-wide prayer vigil on the lawn of the County/State Building, on the evening of 9/11, 2001, Marty has regularly joined in civic and government meetings to open proceedings with prayer. These mirrored the more private ongoing prayer efforts in small group settings on behalf of the town, its leaders and future.
In addition to leading and supporting congregationally related projects, like annual summer Bible Camps, Fall Harvest Festivals, Candle Light Christmas Eve Services open to the entire community, they have joined the efforts of other agencies to host and co-sponsor annual Back to School Supply Drives, Coat & Winter Clothing Drives as well as Turning Point Homeless Shelter, when it was in operation.
Their hearts to serve have also taken them out of the Basin to Idaho to work in a Children’s Home in Eagle, and out of the country for humanitarian efforts in Haiti & Cambodia as well as educational instruction in Vienna, Austria.
Marty would be the first to acknowledge that much of what he has been a part of in Vernal has merely been because he has made himself available. Looking back, it seems that when asked to join a committee or team that was seeking to make the community better than it already was, he generally said yes to the assignment and stayed with it until it surpassed the expertise or skill level he might beneficially provide or it was successfully completed.
He acknowledges that he joined the Vernal Chamber of Commerce because he saw its efforts doing just that.  Out of that membership has come opportunities to be involved in multiple downtown improvement projects & community life enhancement events.
Following his retirement, Marty recently relocated into a downtown Vernal office space to launch some new ventures of service, thus still qualifying for Chamber membership, while observing 1st hand the needs of Vernal’s vibrant center.
For 15 seasons, He has been the courtside announcer of Uintah High School boys’ basketball and last year also did UHS baseball home games. That expanded this year into announcing Channel V6 football contests, calling Duchesne, Union games as well as Uintah. He says that he loves those gigs because it gets him in free.
Marty also enjoyed narrating Christmas Concerts of the Uintah Orchestra and Chorale in recent years and doing local radio spots for Evans Media Group.
Marty and Diane love living in the Basin, especially Vernal, and are grateful to have lived here long enough to put down roots and be considered natives. Their greatest regret is that their 3 children and 9 grandchildren live out of the area, but they admit to having their own special “family” here.
The Public Relations Committee of the Vernal Area Chamber of Commerce is very pleased to present Marty Young the Quarterly Outstanding Public Service Award for his many years of serving our community.