Online Archives

The Rev. Alfred A. Vaughn, 90, died May 21 of heart disease at his Cedonia home. The Rev. Jeremiah Williams officiated at his funeral service June 4at St. Marks UMC in Hanover. Also participating was Bishop Forest Stith, retired, who had been his district superintendent.

Alfred Austin Vaughn was born June 6, 1922,and raised in Sprague, W.Va.; he graduated in 1942 from Stratton High School in Beckley, W.Va. He earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Morehouse College, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was a classmate. A picture hung on his wall commemorating that time.

He received his Master of Divinity degree from Howard University School of Divinity in 1952, and also studied at Princeton Theological Seminary and Union Theological Seminary. He earned a doctorate of divinity from Drew University in Madison, N.J., in 1982. He was active with the alumni associations of each university he received degrees from. He also taught junior high school after college and at Florida Memorial College in the 1950s.

He and Martha Butterworth married in 1955. She was an educator who retired as a case analyst from the state Dept. of Labor, Licensing and Regulation. They had four children who survive.

Vaughn's pastoral career began when he was a teenager, serving Baptist churches while pursuing an education. "He couldn't find anything in the Baptist Church and was ordained an Elder in the Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church," said his wife.

He became pastor of Cherry Hill UMC, 1954-1960, and then for a year he pastored Union Street UMC in Westminster. From 1961 to 1970, he led the congregation of Union UMC in Aberdeen. He was pastor of St. Mark UMC in Hanover from 1970 to 1976, when he was appointed to Nottingham Myers UMC, which he served until 1985. His last appointment before retiring in 1992 was to the Huntingtown Charge. He was also an adjunct professor at Morgan State University.

Vaughn was a longtime member of the Ministerial Alliance, Morgan Christian Center, and the NAACP. During his lifetime, Vaughn received many awards for his work, including the Morehouse College Achievement Award, Howard University School of Divinity Alumni Certificate of Appreciation and Calvert County Minister of the Year awards. He was inducted into the Preachers Hall of Fame at Simpson-Hamline UMC in Washington, D.C.

In addition to his wife, Vaughn is survived by three sons, Philip Vaughn and Charles Vaughn, both of Cedonia, and Benjamin Vaughn Sr. of Kennesaw, Ga.; a daughter, Ellen Vaughn-Chittams of Cedonia; and five grandchildren.

Condolences may be sent to Martha Vaughn, 5465 Bucknell Road, Baltimore, MD 21206.