A.Y. Olds

   A.Y. Olds, 91,  passed away on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014, in Torrance, Calif. Graveside services will be held at 2 p.m., Monday, Dec. 29, 2014, at the Crowell Cemetery with the Rev. Ken Rowland of Crowell officiating. Burial will be under the direction of Womack-Manard Funeral Home in Crowell.
   A.Y. was born on Nov. 27, 1923 in Crowell, a son of the late James and Nona Olds and was raised by his grandparents, James H. and Ida Mae James.  He attended Crowell High School where he excelled in acting and was quarterback on the Crowell football team. In 1941 he won the prestigious Samuel French Award for Best Dramatic Actor in Texas. He attended the University of Texas in Austin where he earned his BBA business degree in 1944. He served on the destroyer U.S.S. Hudson (DD475) in the Pacific Theater of WW2. He was a gunnery officer and fought at Iwo Jima, Okinawa and Saipan and was hit by a kamikaze Suicide plane. He saved a B-29 crew bomer crew. He also toured the Aleutian Islands.
   He married Eva Joyce Bumpass, from Quanah, Texas, in 1946 and they were together 69 years. Upon his Navy discharge near Dodger Stadium, he joined Humble Oil and Refining Company in Dallas and worked there 40 years as one of their key real estate executives.
   A.Y. volunteered a lot in the South Bay, beginning in 1969, when his son’s soccer team won the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) State Championship. He joined Hans Stierle and Ron Littlefair running Torrance operations and became Regional Commissioner. He was known as “Mr. AYSO.” A.Y. and Eva joined the Riviera United Methodist Church in 1964. He was in the South Torrance and Signal Hill Lions Clubs, and also volunteered with the Methodist Men of Riviera United Methodist Church, Boy Scouts, YMCA Indian Guides, El Camino College’s Center for the Arts, Distinguished Speakers Series, and the South Bay Civic Light Opera. He also supported the American Diabetes Association (ADA) 5-K Walks for 18 years, raising over $25,000 for diabetes research and education. He was a charter member of the Seal Beach McDonald’s “McGeezers”, a fun daily breakfast crowd.
   He is survived by his wife, Eva, and three children, Linda Olds, Carole Preece and Jim Olds, all of Torrance, Calif.
   Memorials may be made to the El Camino College Center for the Arts in Torrance or Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch in Amarillo.
   A memorial service will be held on Sunday, Jan. 4, at 2 p.m. at the Riviera United Methodist Church, 375 Palos Verdes Blvd., Redondo Beach.