ruey young bussey was born in timpson, texas, the youngest of katherine lee "katie" bussey (née hughes) and thomas wade "tom" bussey's 13 children. the family later moved to humble, located near houston. tom worked several odd jobs, before landing a supervisory position at a firm that manufactured train equipment. however, he abandoned the family in 1928, and later died in march 1935. when katie became become the head of the household, young worked to help to support the family by delivering milk, waking up at 3:00 am to walk his delivery route.