Palestine High School Alumni Association

07 / 01 / 1916  –  07 / 10 / 2004

Services for Catherine Wright Vaughn, 88, of Athens will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday, October 12 at Judson Baptist Church in Cayuga with the Rev. Dale Norris officiating. Burial will follow at Bethel Cemetery in Anderson County under the direction of Carroll-Lehr Funeral Home of Athens.

Mrs. Vaughn died Sunday at her residence.

She was born July 1, 1916, near Cross Roads in Henderson County to T.R. “Russ” Wright, longtime Anderson County rancher and peace officer, and Beulah Rampy.

After attending Cayuga High School she graduated from Palestine High School in 1933. She then enrolled at College of Marshall (now East Texas Baptist University). While there she met Joe E. Vaughn, captain of the college football team. They were married on Nov. 27, 1935. Mr. Vaughn was District Superintendent for Lone Star Gas Company at the time of his death in 1976.

Mrs. Vaughn also attended Draughon’s Business College in Dallas, Stephen F. Austin State Teachers’ College in Nacogdoches – and she was in the first class at Henderson County Junior College. Mrs. Vaughn taught at Cayuga High School and later at Cross Roads High School where she was the women’s basketball coach. After leaving her teaching career she was very active in the Parent-Teacher Association in Anderson County and was named a Life Member of the Texas Congress of Parent-Teacher Associations.

In 1954, Mrs. Vaughn became assistant administrator of Anderson County Memorial Hospital in Palestine. She became administrator of Henderson County Memorial Hospital in Athens in 1961 and served in that capacity until 1977. When she became administrator in Athens, the hospital was on the verge of insolvency and being closed; venders would sell supplies only on a COD basis. Through years of hard work and with the help of a dedicated staff, she placed the hospital on a sound financial basis, and secured its accreditation from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospitals.

During her years of hospital work, she held various offices in the Texas Hospital Association and the East Texas Hospital Division, where she was the first woman to serve as chairman. She was made a member of the American College of Hospital Administrators, and was named a Life Member of the Hospital Auxiliary in Athens.

Mrs. Vaughn was an avid student of American and Texas history. Robert Wright, her ancestor, fought with George Washington at Valley Forge, and on the basis of his service, she became a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, and served as regent of the Daniel McMahon Chapter in Athens. While in Palestine, she was an organizing member of the Davis-Reagan chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.

On both sides of her family, Mrs. Vaughn was descended from very early Texas pioneers. Her great-grandfather Rampy settled near Cayuga in Anderson County in 1847. Another great-grandfather came to Texas in 1834 and aided in the fight for Texas independence. Based on that service, she was a member of the Fort Houston chapter of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas.

Recently she became a charter member of the Martin’s Hundred Chapter of the Colonial Dames Seventeenth Century based on her descent from Robert Booth who settled in Virginia in 1637 and was a member of the House of Burgesses.

Mrs. Vaughn was an active member of the Pilot Club in Athens for many years. She was listed in Texas Women of Distinction and in Who’s Who of American Women. For many years, she served as a church historian of Judson Baptist Church in Cayuga, where she had joined the church in 1929. Additionally, she was secretary-treasurer of the Bethel Cemetery Association.

Mr. and Mrs. Vaughn were the parents of three children – Vonda Lynne Daly, who died in 1995; Michael J. Vaughn of Flint and Patrick W. Vaughn of Eastland. In addition to her two sons, she also is survived by eight grandchildren, Catherine Pollock of Austin, Kelly Colletti of Houston, Cara Roberts of Athens, Russ Wright Vaughn and Clay B. Vaughn of Dallas, Elizabeth Vaughn of Tier, Sarah Vaughn of Rockwall and Kate M. Vaughn of Eastland; nephew, Jerry W. Johnson; and by eight great-grandchildren.

Her most lasting gift to her family was to instill in them the things in life that were most important to her – love of God, family, friends and country.

Sincere heartfelt thanks is extended by Mrs. Vaughn’s family to special caretakers Jocie Lane, Betty Ramon, Sheila Stanford and Thresia Burnett for the love and compassion shown to her over the past several months, and to Dr. Robert Risko and his staff, Dr. N. D. Geddie Jr. and the staff of Genesis Hospice for their care and concern during her illness.

Pallbearers will be Jerry Daly, Dr. N.D. Geddie Jr., Forrest Jackson, David Sellers, Gene McIntyre, Charles Andrews and C. L. Thornton.

Honorary pallbearers will be all former Henderson County Memorial Hospital employees.