Click to enlarge R.C. Vaughan

BY JERRIE WHITELEY

HERALD DEMOCRAT

The statement, "He was a judge's judge," seemed to fill the air on Tuesday as word began to spread that the county's pre-eminent historian and favorite son, Roland Carlyle Vaughan, known to most as Judge R.C. Vaughan, passed away Tuesday at 94.

Judge Vaughan remains the county's longest-serving public official. Grayson County voters elected him county court-at-law, then district judge, covering a total of 36 years. After retirement, he served the county as its unofficial historian and civic leader, leading commissions on the U.S. Constitution's bicentennial and the state and county's sesquicentennial celebrations.

"He was possibly one of the finest men to ever sit on any bench anywhere in the United States of America," said retired Judge Lloyd Perkins when asked about the passing of his friend.

"He treated everyone with amazing respect," Perkins said. He loved the law and it showed, Perkins added.

Though he loved the state of Texas with a passion, Judge Vaughan came into the world in Hollis, Okla., on a farm in 1915. He arrived to find that his parents, Benson and Annie Hendrix Vaughan, had already provided him with an older sister named Inez. The family soon moved to Denison where Benton Vaughan operated a grocery store in a building that is now part of the Dwight D. Eisenhower Birthplace Park. The family later moved to Cherry Mound.

Judge Vaughan played in the Denison High School Band and the University of Texas Longhorn Band but didn't take up music as a career because another field struck his interest.

Watching Sherman attorney Spearman Webb handle a case for a relative sparked Judge Vaughan's interest in the law.

He graduated from the University of Texas law school in 1938 and returned home to start a practice in Denison. In 1939, he was named assistant city attorney in Denison. About the same time, he met a nurse named Ona Southerland.

By 1941, he had been named city attorney for Denison, and on Sunday, Dec. 14, 1941, he and Ona married. On Jan. 8, 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army. Following basic training, he ended up in the Counter Intelligence Corps, serving a period of time overseas.

He was later nominated to the Judge Advocate General School at the University of Michigan and graduated in May 1945, gaining the rank of first lieutenant. He completed his service at Fort Sill, Okla., in February 1946 and returned to private practice and his office as Denison city attorney.

He didn't rest in that position long though before winning election in 1948 as judge in the county's court-at-law.

His next bench was the one for which most people will remember him. He served as judge of the 15th state District Court from 1953 to Jan. 1, 1985, when he retired.

"He was instructive to the younger lawyers who came before him and at the same time he kept order in his court with amazing dignity," Perkins said. "I don't believe anyone has served this county longer than he (did) on the bench and all of us judges and lawyers enjoyed being in his Court and trusted him."

Perkins said he just couldn't say enough good things about Judge Vaughan as a person. That same sentiment reverberated from everyone asked to speak about him.

One of those people was another long-time public servant, Horace Groff. Groff retired as Grayson County judge after serving for decades.

"(Judge Vaughan) was a great encourager and has always been a tremendous mentor," Groff said. "I always looked up to him and respected him because of the way he conducted himself."

"He was a true Southern gentleman," said Dr. Jerry Lincecum, the retired Austin College professor who worked with Judge Vaughan on a number of historic projects. "I actually first met him as a juror in his courtroom. I was so impressed with the way that he conducted the trial ... he was the epitome of justice."

That way of conducting himself was key to Judge Vaughan's being able to accomplish a great many things, including recording some of the county's history. To list all of Judge Vaughan's accomplishments and honors would require more space than is available. His volunteer work alone makes a lengthy list. But high among his major professional honors is the 1990 designation from the Texas Bar Association as "Outstanding Jurist of the Year."

Dr. Ann Van Wynen Thomas, professor emeritus at Southern Methodist University and a Grayson County resident, served as Judge Vaughan's co-chair on the Grayson County Millennium Committee. She said, Judge Vaughan just knew how to get the best out of people, either individually or in a group. He was able, she said, to bring people from various parts of the county together to plan celebrations for the Texas Sesquicentennial in 1984 and keep that group from becoming political.

He followed the 1984 position with the chairmanship of the Grayson County Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution, and at the turn of the century became co-chair of the Grayson County Millennium Committee. Along the way, he continued to belong to the Grayson County Historical Society.

Grayson County Tax Assessor Collector John Ramsey, who worked with Judge Vaughan on a number of projects, including, with Lincecum, the printing of a collection of the columns Judge Vaughan wrote for the Sherman Democrat and the Herald Democrat, said Judge Vaughan's passion for history was well known.

"He was always collecting things ... little items of history ... his office (on the second floor of the Grayson County Courthouse) was full of stuff like a little museum," Ramsey said. He said people knew Judge Vaughan liked historical artifacts, and when they found them they brought them to him. He also worked to record what a number of Grayson County pioneers knew while they were still around to share their knowledge.

"He would make these recordings of people who really knew Grayson County history, and then he would transcribe them," Ramsey said. He said Judge Vaughan did the same thing with presentations by local historians. He took those items and bound them into books.

He encouraged other people to do the same thing ... to look around and appreciate the history that surrounds them, friends said. One of his favorite local causes was Grayson County Frontier Village. Years after he started working with the project, many of the items that had once held prominence in his office at the Grayson County Courthouse found their way to a small section of the Village set aside just for him. His desk, chair and other items remain there to this day.

Ramsey recalled that long after he retired, Judge Vaughan would don his robe at the Village and give presentations to the school children who were gathered there.

Though Judge Vaughan gave unselfishly of his own time to civic and community events, he also loved his family very much, said many of the people who spoke about him.

Judge Vaughan and his wife raised two sons, Robert Charles and James Benton, and were blessed with four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Mrs. Vaughan died Dec. 16, 2001, at age 91. The couple was preceded in death by their son James.

Judge Vaughan taught a Sunday school class for a number of years at First Baptist Church in Sherman.

"He was a decent God-fearing man who didn't wear his religion on his sleeve, but you had a sense of innate justice in his presence," Perkins said.

Family visitation will be from 6 -8 p.m. Friday at Dannel Funeral Home in Sherman. Graveside services for family and friends will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at Cedar Lawn Memorial Cemetery in Sherman.

Herald Democrat Editor Don Eldredge contributed to this report.