Earl W. Vaughn

He was appointed to the North Carolina Supreme Court in 1985, but only served seven months before having to retire due to a sudden diagnosis of terminal lung and brain cancer.

While enrolled at the law school, Vaughn resided in a Quonset hut with classmate and lifelong friend Jack Worsham.

He then decided to return to his home county of Rockingham to open a private law practice as a sole practitioner in Draper.

During his first term, the 1961-63 session, Vaughn immediately had to cast hard votes to raise revenue to pay for much needed improvements to the North Carolina education system.

He also served as the Vice Chair of the Committee on Corporations during which time the legislature was considering whether or not North Carolina should adopt the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC).

It also provided that as of 1 July 1969 the membership of the Court would be increased to nine and authorized the Governor serving at that time to appoint the additional three members.

In 1968 the voters of Rockingham County overwhelmingly elected Earl W. Vaughn to the state House of Representatives for a fifth term.

This led the way for Vaughn’s unanimous selection by the membership to be elected Speaker of the NC House of Representatives for the 1969 – 1970 session.

Former Pfeiffer and UNC Law School classmate, and current state representative Samuel H. Johnson gave the nominating speech.

About the time he came on the Court, it began considering cases involving substantial changes in many areas of the law made by the General Assembly while Vaughn served in that body.

These areas included public utilities, the Uniform Commercial Code, Rules of Civil Procedure and jurisdiction of the courts.

Although he waged a valiant fight in his battle against cancer, Vaughn died in Rex Hospital in Raleigh, North Carolina on April 1, 1986.

Eloise has been a crusader for AIDS victims, organizing a committee known as Mothers Against Jesse in Congress (MAJIC), an initiative to defeat U.S.

During the summer of 1974 Vaughn hiked a portion of the Appalachian Trail with two of his sons, taking special measures to stop in populated areas to catch up on the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon.

For about 25 years Vaughn also enjoyed deer hunting each Thanksgiving with friends at the camp of Monroe Redden Jr. in Mills River, NC near Hendersonville.