John Frederick Younger was born April 10, 1912, at Dwight, Illinois. He attended public schools in Kingsbury and Minner Counties and graduated from Eastern Normal School in Madison in 1933. He taught at the junior high level in Junius and vocational agriculture at Beresford, South Dakota. John earned his B.S. degree in 1942 and his M.S. in 1957, both from South Dakota State University. In 1945 he began serving as the State 4-H Agent for the Cooperative Extension Service. In 1953 he became the State 4-H and Youth Program Leader, a position he held until his retirement in 1977. During his term as State Leader, he added new activities in the 4-H program to include town members as well as rural youth.
For more than 20 years he led a delegation of about 45 to the National 4-H Leader Forum meeting in Washington, D.C. Also, during his tenure, the Livestock Industry 4-H Trust Fund was established for South Dakota 4-H programs and activities. He supervised building programs at two of the 4-H Camps. Younger retired in 1985 after spending over 40 years working with and caring about the future of young people in his teaching career and 4-H duties. Following his retirement as State 4-H Youth Program Leader he continued his involvement with 4-H and the youth by providing leadership as Executive Director of the South Dakota 4-H Foundation, an organization incorporated during his tenure.
