Some final thoughts on Uncle Vaughn

 It has been about 10 years or so since Uncle Vaughn passed away.  By happenstance I stumbled across some notes that were saved at the time of his passing.  I think we put this together to share for the funeral.  I thought that I would post them here for posterity.

Joe’s thoughts on Uncle Vaughn:

He was like Santa Claus in this respect - (Me: Uncle Vaughn - Santa Claus??)  he knew if I had been

naughty or niceHe knew many of the local principals, superintendents, and teachers.  So if I messed up,

he knew about it and let me know.  He always seemed to know what we did.  It was his way of keeping

an eye on us and letting us know that he was watching. That is a part of my childhood that I will miss.

Chelsea said that Uncle Vaughn reminded her of the coach from the Bad News Bears - Walter Matthau -

a curmudgeonly, but loveable guy.  He had that gruff attitude and if he didn’t care for you, he would just

listen to what you said, but not give any real feedback.  But if he liked you, he would give you feedback

and advice. He was a straight shooter and always told you what he thought without trying to cover things

up and making it nice.  

Me: One of my earlier memories is being a batboy for his softball team. And for the longest time Uncle

Vaughn was my supplier of Sports Illustrated magazines - until I went digital.  But that was our common

connection - sports. We talked about the local high school teams and how they were doing.  We discussed

Red’s baseball and Bengals football.  He is one of the few guys that would go to a track meet just to watch. 

I would be covering a meet for the paper and would sometimes see him at the fence and say hi.  He followed

Vanessa’s track/cross country career and went to many of her meets.  I know she appreciated him being there. 

I remember being tickled as a youngster by Uncle Richard when I was growing up.  And now I think I know

why - Uncle Vaughn used to pin him down at times and tickle him mercilessly. Uncle Richard was the youngest

and so he had no one to pick on in turn - that is until I came along!  I also remember the walleye that we got

from uncle Vaughn when he went on fishing trips to the Great Lakes and I remember fishing at the lake when

we were growing up.  

I was grateful that he kept tabs on the kids as they grew up and shared advice.  Sometimes when kids hear

things from another adult they will listen to them instead of their parents - even though we are both saying the s

ame thing.  And just like the kids, I was surprised sometimes by the things that he was able to find out about

them from his contacts at South. 

In many ways he was a very social guy - a member of a lot of clubs and organizations.  But in other ways he

was a very solitary guy.  Looking back, he did the things he wanted to do and he lived his life on his terms. 

There is something to be respected about a man who can do that.