What does a man do when he retires from the top job in his profession after 39 years of service? If that man is Adm. Paul A. Yost Jr., he immediately takes on a new challenge.
Adm. Yost retired May 31, after completing a four-year assignment as commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard, ending a government service career that spanned nearly four decades.Almost immediately after he retired, he accepted the position of president of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation in Washington, D.C. The foundation is a patriotic and educational organization dedicated to the effort to help Americans better understand the Constitution and the people and events involved in its establishment.
"I looked around for several months before my actual retirement to decide what to do next," he explained. Finally, after talking with two U.S. senators, both members of the Madison Foundation Board of Trustees, he took on the foundation presidency.
The soft-spoken 61-year-old former admiral does not seem to be daunted by the immediate task facing him - the imposing challenge of raising $10 million in private sector funding. These funds will be matched on a two-to-one basis by $20 million in already available federal funds to bring the foundation program into full operation.
"Our goal is to award fellowships for graduate work in U.S. history and study of the Constitution to teachers who will then return to the nation's education system to further the process through which Americans may gain a better understanding of the concepts and values which have made this nation great," he said.
"In the past year, people in Eastern European nations have risked their lives - and often lost them - to gain freedoms we take for granted, but do not always appreciate," he noted. "I feel certain there are individuals and corporations that will support a program to help people understand what it was and what it is that makes this nation great."
An energetic and athletic native of St. Petersburg, Fla., Paul Yost is obviously enthusiastic about his new job. It is equally obvious that he looks back with affection and satisfaction upon his 39-year Coast Guard career. That career began in 1951 and reached its apex in 1986 when he was appointed commandant by President Ronald Reagan.
Over the years, many events have had significant impact on the life of Paul Yost. One of the most significant came in 1953, when he and his wife, the former Jan Worth of Wakefield, Mass., became members of the Church.
"The Church has been a great help to me, both in my life and my career," he said matter-of-factly. "My Church membership was never a problem. I was always careful to not mix church and state as far as my official duties went. And the Church has always been a big plus in my own personal life and in the lives of my wife and children."
The Yosts have five children, all of whom have moved from home: Linda, Paul, David, Lisa and Christopher. Four are BYU graduates, and all three sons became Eagle Scouts.
The Yosts are members of the Potomac South Ward, Washington D.C. Stake. He was released just recently from his second calling as a high councilor in the Washington D.C. Stake. He also served on the New York New York Stake high council. And, while stationed in New Orleans, La., he served in several bishoprics and branch presidencies. Sister Yost has also been active in the Church, serving in numerous capacities.
As his professional career advanced, Adm. Yost's assignments increased in administrative scope and responsibility. Before he was appointed an admiral, he served as commander of the Atlantic Area, commander of the Atlantic Maritime Defense Zone, and as commander of the Third Coast Guard District in New York City.
In those roles, he was responsible for the Coast Guard operations in the Atlantic, Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico. His responsibilities included drug interdiction, maritime law enforcement, search and rescue operation and maritime coastal defense under authority of the commander of the Navy's Atlantic Fleet. He served in combat for a year in Vietnam, commanding Navy and Coast Guard forces on about one-fourth of the Vietnam coast.
Probably his highest profile assignment came in 1989, when he was sent by President George Bush to oversee cleaning operations of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. "That was difficult and memorable," he said. "We did the best we could."
Of his role as the Coast Guard's commander, he said, "I think if I were asked what I consider my most satisfactory accomplishment, it would be what was done during the past eight years to decrease the drug traffic into the United States by increasing the pressure on Caribbean drug smugglers. We had considerable success in our fight against drugs. The flow of marijuana from the Caribbean has mostly dried up and the traffic in cocaine is decreasing."
At the time of his retirement, Adm. Yost was one of the most highly decorated officers in the Coast Guard.
In 1988, the Washington chapter of BYU's Management Society named him its Manager of the Year. A few months later he received the Management in Government Award from the BYU School of Public Administration. Also in 1988, he was given the Minuteman Hall of Fame Award by the Reserve Officers Association.
