Wendell M. Vaughn passed away at 1:35am on 6 November 2016. Wendell was born on 1 June 1925 in Medford, Jackson County Oregon of parents Roy and Tressie Vaughn.
The Vaughn family, John William Vaughn, first came to America from the village of Dolgellau Wales as an indentured servant to the Virginia Company in 1619 on the ship Bona Nova. Roots in Wales are traced back to about 900. John was one of the very few who survived the starvation, disease’s, and Indian massacres of the Virginia colony.
Wendell grew up on his parent’s ranch on Laurelhurst road on the south side of what was the Rogue river, now the Lost Creek dam and lake. At the age of 14 Wendell became a ranch hand at the Ginger Rogers Rogue River ranch. Each morning, along with other boys milked the herd of 100 cows before school and would and milk the cows in the afternoon. During his last year of high school, he lived in Prospect working at a hotel and restaurant. One of his jobs was to start the wood stoves for the restaurant's morning meals. He was called up for the draft once but was rejected for color blindness. He was called up again in October 1943 and was allowed to select the Navy. Again, due to his color blindness he was only allowed into the Seabees, the US Naval Construction Forces. After initial training, he and several of his buddies volunteered for the new Navy Combat Demolition Unit (NCDU), which later became the Navy Seals. Dad never talked much about the training in Florida at what is now the location of the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum. His only comment on his training, “they took us out 2 miles in the ocean and made us swim back for breakfast”. After training they were flown to England for preparation for D-Day. They were tasked with landing on Omaha beach before the first wave of soldiers at low tide to blow up the obstacles the Germans put in place to foul landing craft. The unit received one of the few Presidential citations awarded during D-Day. After D-Day his unit was returned to Florida to train for the invasion of Japan.
The horrors of D-Day kept dad from talking at any depth about that day. And kept him from attending the 40th anniversary hosted by Ronald Reagan in 1984. Son James and grandson Elliot visited Omaha Beach in Normandy France in 2010. A close friend made a gift of a jar of sand from the Normandy beach. The jar of Normandy sand was never more than an arm’s length away. A portion of the sand has been placed in his pocket to remain with him permanently.
On 27 June 1946, Wendell married Marjorie McGrew. Wendell worked as an inside lumber salesman for 30 years for Boise Cascade. Upon retirement Wendell and Marjorie bought an Airstream trailer and traveled full time with the Airstream travel community for the next 15 years to all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. He was a member of The Lions Club for 45 years.
About 1999 I was attending a conference. I noticed the man sitting next to me speaking with a heavy French accent. I inquired where he was from. “Normandy, France” he replied. I related briefly about my father and the invasion. Instantly he replied “Thank you, very much”. “What?” I replied. “Tell your father thank you very much”. “We were taught from a very early age that if we ever encounter a D-Day veteran to thank them.” When next I saw my father, I related the story and the thank you. He turned away and began to weep.
~ written by son, James ~
There are few people who have more than a few friends. Like Will Rogers' dad never met a man he did not like. Everyone who knew Wendell were more than friends. They loved him. He was not wealthy but he never said no to true need. If you disappointed him, forgiveness was quick. It was not until the final days that Wendell became introspective, regretting that he never said he loved us kids very often. He said it had been a topic of conversation among his friends recently. It was not just him. It was common for his generation. He told me he “loved me” and gave me a warm hug. I could feel the feebleness of his waning health as he apologized, as I was taught by his example, my forgiveness was quick. We were both moved to tears in the subsequent moments of silence.
One of his travel friends related this story; During one of the frequent stops, a gaggle of pastel clad caravaners were offering unsolicited advice on a maintenance problem to a fellow caravaner. Wendell parked nearby and offered to provide the tools. When he presented the tool chest it was obviously a new tool chest for which the committee offered expressions of admiration. Wendell responded. “They are not new. I have had them for over 10 years”. To which the admiration was replaced with laughter at the realization that Wendell’s tool set was virtually new because they had never been used in ten years. He had no idea how to use tools. There was no pretense in Dad. When I would work on projects Dad would stand by patiently watching and waiting to offer a helping hand. In that way, he was like a puppy watching something he knew nothing about, but content to be in the presence of someone who did.
Wendell is survived by his wife of 70 years Marjorie Ann Vaughn(McGrew), daughter Sheryl with (husband Kirk, sons - David with fiancée Khammi, Jerry with wife Jaime and children Kayla, Madison, and Cody), Sons James (with son Elliot), and Jerry (with son Justin with wife Heather and children Kayli and Jonah). And Nieces and nephews Sonda, Wayne, Pam, and John.
I marvel at his mystical ability to love and be loved so effortlessly. A simple and kind man who is missed by virtually everyone whose steps intersected with his in life.