Melissa DePoy Young

Melissa Diane (DePoy) Young, age 53, of Orange City, Florida, passed away peacefully to life’s next journey, surrounded by her loving family on June 22, 2025. 

Melissa was born on March 16, 1972, in Santa Clara, California, to Jimmy George DePoy and Sandra Kay DePoy. Her family moved around the United States while her father served as a pilot in the US Navy. After leaving the military, they settled in Cary, NC, where Melissa spent her school years and graduated from Cary High School. After receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work at UNC-Charlotte and working, she decided to further her studies, moving to Augusta, Georgia, where she earned a degree in Occupational Therapy from Medical College of GA. Her work brought her to the state of Florida, where she resided for the past twenty-three years and where her son David James was born. Melissa pursued her passion of helping others working many years in various healthcare places as an Occupational Therapist.  She enjoyed working with pediatric and geriatric clients, teaching and educating them with new skills and ideas to make their lives easier.  

Melissa loved learning, traveling, was always up for any adventure and bringing people together. Her support, kind spirit, can-do attitude, and positivity were contagious. Melissa’s passion for therapy of people with special needs started early; she earned counselor of the year by her peers at an Autism summer camp. In college, she spent a semester studying abroad in Reno and a semester in the Netherlands. A creative and entrepreneurial spirit, she was always thinking of inventions to make life easier or more organized. She got certified in infant massage became as owner-operator for her own business owner leading classes in infant massage. She was very health conscious and encouraged others to do the same; she was a strong and determined individual in anything she did. Melissa was a fabulous organizer and loved helping others trim down and organize as well. She could often be found outdoors, enjoying the sunshine and Gods creation, trips to the beach, cultivating her food forest, or catching up on the phone with her loved ones.  She was always listening and keen to problem solve or lend an ear as an unpaid therapist or just to chat; she cherished relationships.  Those who knew her remember her genuineness, kind, sweet-hearted soul, devotion to helping others, and being full of life.  She was known for her deep devotion to her family, especially her son, David. Her spirit will live on in all she knew. 

She is survived by her loving son, David James Young; her mother Sandra Kay DePoy; her brother Brian Keith DePoy (Cindy), and sister Elizabeth Ashley DePoy; niece and nephews Addison Reese, Hudson Chapman and Bryson Grant DePoy. Melissa was preceded in death by her father, Jimmy George DePoy. She is deeply missed by her all her family, many aunts, uncles and cousins and friends. 

A celebration of life for Melissa will be held on Thursday, July 31, 2025, at 10:00 AM at First Church of Deland, 115 E. Howry Ave, Deland Florida, 32724. Interment will follow at DeLand Memorial Gardens, 600 East Beresford Ave, Deland, FL 32724. 

In lieu of flowers, a tree may be planted in her honor, or donations may be made Volusia County, FL Salvation Army.

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