During the years my family lived on Cedar Street, that neighborhood, along with adjoining streets, was filled with families who had young children. The Alvin and Muriel Vaughn family and their four daughters lived on Windle Street, and I was a classmate of the twin daughters, Joyce and Jean. The two older daughters were Marjorie and Mary. My family and the Vaughns attended church together at the little First Baptist Church that once stood at the intersection of East Main and Mofield Streets. Joyce, Jean and I often played together during the time my family lived on Cedar Street. The Vaughn’s daughter, Mary, who makes her home in Cary, NC, has recently corresponded with me by email, and has shared the following story about her family. I’m sure there are lots of folks who will remember Muriel Vaughn from her employment at Union Bank and Trust where she worked for many years. Here are Mary’s memories:

“Muriel Lee DuBois Vaughn was the youngest child of John William and Alyce Angel DuBois. She was born January 12, 1912 at Ravencroft , TN in White County. Her ancestors came from Berry, France in 1741 and settled in Natchiotches, Louisiana. During the Civil War, her grandfather was traveling through TN and met Mary England hanging clothes on the line. It was love at first sight. He came back to visit her and they married later. They settled in England’s Cove in Putnam County.
“Mother’s father was a farmer for years. In 1922 Ma developed asthma and the doctors told her it would help her asthma if she moved to Florida. This was their first trip to Florida. They had planned to rent a house or an apartment, but nothing was available so Pa had to rent a tent and they set it up in a relative’s grapefruit orchard. They lived there 4 months and warm climate did not help Ma, so they returned to TN. Mother was 10 at this time.

“When Pa was 51, he was hired in 1924 by the Robins and Nowlin Construction Co. in Sparta to take a crew of 32 African/American men to Miami, Florida to build the original Hialeah Race Track which was a dog racing track. The men traveled in open bed Model T trucks. My Mother was 12 at the time and her older brother, Jack drove the family car and took Mother and my grandmother with him to live in Florida while Pa built the race track. It took them 2 week to drive to Florida and they camped in tents in the cemeteries at church since this was the safest place. Pa rented them an apartment, but he stayed with the crew in tents on the building sight. It took them 8 months to build the track which was built by filling in a swamp. After returning to TN. Pa started a sawmill business.

“Years ago children had to create their own play and fun. Her mother saved the grass feed sacks to hang over the cellar door to keep the cold air out. Mother’s two old brothers came up with the idea to make a hammock in the barn hallway out of the grass sacks. Her brothers got in the hammock and Mother pinned them in with the safety pins which she got from her Mother’s sewing basket and would swing them. Ma came looking for them and Mother ran and hid because she knew they were in trouble. Ma had to unpin the grass sacks and get the brothers out. I am sure they learned a good lesson.

“Mother first hair cut was a disaster. They did not have salons and Ma asked Pa if he would take Mother to the man that cut his hair. He told Pa he had never cut a girls hair before, but he just turned a bowl over her head and tilted it back a little and cut around the bowl. When Pa took Mother home Ma cried and cried because her long black beautiful hair was butchered. Needless to say the man never cut Mother’s hair again.

“Mother went to Smith’s Chapel to a one room school house 1st – 8th grade. She and her brothers rode a horse to school. They attended Pleasant Hill Academy during their high school years. After her brothers graduated she boarded at the Academy. Her junior and senior years she went to Jacksonville, Fl. to live with her sister, Seta and her husband so she could attend Robert Lee High School. After graduation she and a cousin got an apartment and worked there for a year. She came back to TN. when her brother Emmett got sick and later died. Her parents had moved to Cookeville to start the Texaco Oil Company and Emmett kept the books for the company and also drove the trucks to deliver the gasoline to many counties around Cookeville. Mother took over both of his jobs keeping the books and driving the trucks. Mother spent most of her salary on clothes, shoes and fur coats. We saw Mother’s pictures with her fur coats and wondered what happened to them. We learned later that she let Daddy wear a fur coat backward in the winter when he was plowing on the farm to stay warm.

“Ma DuBois never learned to drive so Mother helped by grocery shopping for her parents at Rex Vaughn’s grocery story on the square in Cookeville. Our Daddy, Alvin was Rex’s brother and he was working his way through TN. Tech by working in his brother’s store and other jobs on campus. Daddy carried Mother’s groceries to her car one day and it was love at first sight just like her grandfather and Mary England. They dated that year and Daddy graduated from Tech and went to U.T. the next year to work on his master’s degree. When Daddy finished school and got his first agriculture teaching job at Hilham, they got married. They married in Nov. 1939 and Marjorie Lee was born Sept 1940. Daddy’s next job was at Rickman High School where he taught and was an advocate for farmers. He helped many farmers get electricity and he was the only veterinary the farmers had. Mother would go along with him at night to hold the lantern when he was called to help deliver a calf. She was a real trooper and did this with Daddy all their married life.

“The school board called Daddy to teach at Livingston Academy so we moved to a little stone house on Main St. I was born in that house in 1942 and Daddy delivered me since all the doctors were at war. Mother later worked at the high school as Kenneth Stephan’s secretary. She also worked for Mayor Jermigan as his secretary and as secretary and receptionist at Lady Ann Hospital.

“Daddy bought his father John Calvin Vaughn’s farm so he could raise cattle and hogs. We move to the farm the next year so Daddy could run the farm. We lived in a little house on the farm. The twins were born Dec. 25, 1945. This was before ultrasound and since Mother was so large, they just knew this baby was a boy. Needless to say it was twin girls. When Daddy told his mother they had twins she said, “Alvin, don’t tell a tale like that because something might happen to Muriel.” Daddy assured her that he was not telling a tale.

“When the twins were babies, Mother was cooking something on the stove and it caught on fire. She grabbed the oil cloth tablecloth to smother it out and burned her hands badly. Marjorie was 5 and Mother sent her to get Aunt Mable to come stay with us. She had quite a distance to walk. When Aunt Mable got back to our house she wrapped Mother’s hand and Mother walked to the highway and hitch-hiked to Livingston to the hospital. The doctor called Daddy. They did not have a second car or a phone. Marjorie and I had to take care of the twins while Mother’s hand healed. Daddy taught us how to change their diapers and how to feed them. These were cloth diapers and I remember Mother had a wringer washer and the diapers had to be hung on the line to dry. Since Joyce was larger than Jean, she became Marjorie’s baby and Jean was my baby that I had to take care of during this time.

“During the summer of 1950 Daddy and Mother bought our home on Windle Street from Frank and Elizabeth Twyman. The Twymans had bought it from Dr. H. B. Nevans. We girls became part of the 22 Windle Street gang of children. During this time I remember learning to sew on Mother’s Singer treadle machine. Mother was an expert seamstress and made all of our clothes. Daddy and Mother became members of First Baptist Church and this church has been a part of our family since 1950. The old church was just one house away from us on the corner so Mother got us all dressed up each Sunday to go to church. We walked to church since it was so close. Daddy taught the men’s bible class and Mother was president of the ladies WMU at church. Mother always helped with the summer bible schools. She and the ladies in WMU took turns each month making the communion bread for the Lord’s Supper. Daddy and Mother were often the host family for the visiting pastors at First Baptist during Bro. James L. Adkins and Bro. Clarence Stewart’s ministries. Mother went out of her way to serve outstanding meals for the visiting pastors. She could stretch a dollar farther than anyone I ever knew. On these occasions, I always had to sleep with Marjorie because my bedroom was used by the visiting pastors.

“Papa Vaughn died while we lived in Livingston so we had to move back to the farm to take care of the cattle. My grandmother went to live with Aunt Mazie. Daddy had a heart attack while we lived in Livingston and one on the farm in the barn in 1959 which took his life at age 47. The little First Baptist Church would not hold the people for his funeral so they had it at the high school. Daddy had made a statement to Bro. Clarence Stewart a few Sundays before he died; “You will hear that I have died, don’t believe it, I will have just begun to live.”

“After Daddy’s death Mother got a job at TN. Tech and worked there two years. The long hours and drive was too much for Mother. In rushing to get home to her family she got a speeding ticket in Rickman as well as some other First Baptist members. The rumor was that the offering was less that week at First Baptist since members had to pay their speeding ticket. Mother went to Alvin Huddleston at Union Bank and Trust Co. to apply for a job. He hired her May 1962 and she worked there until she retired at age 76 in Feb. 1988. She had four daughters that she had to send to college by herself and I can tell you for sure that she did not miss giving her title the Sunday after her speeding ticket because she knew God was her source. She also gave of her time to the church after Daddy’s death by teaching the ladies bible class for years. She and Daddy were both students of the bible and in her later years she would read her bible in the bed at night and fall asleep with it. The time she was not reading her Bible or Christian books, she was praying for her family and her nation.

“She hired Marvin Norrod to came back and run the farm after Daddy’s death. He had worked for Daddy in previous years. He told us this past summer that Mother was a very shrewd business women and she did well running the farm. She had to buy and sell cattle and hog as well as sell some of the timber on the farm. He told us that she had to buy a new tractor one year and she had to sell 10 young bulls to have the money for the tractor. When I was a senior in college I needed a car for my student teaching. Mother bartered again and bought me a used car in exchange for 5 calves.

“The year was 1961 when Marjorie became engaged to be married. To prepare for the wedding, mother took all four daughters to Cain Sloans in Nashville to purchase a wedding dress for Marjorie’s wedding. She explained to us that not only was this dress to be bought for Marjorie’s wedding, but it would be used by each of the other daughters when any of us married. Anytime mother or Ma DuBois shopped at Cain Sloans, they were always assisted by a Ms. Lewis, an employee and personal shopper at Cain Sloans. The dress was selected that day, and since that time, six family brides have worn the dress. It has been used over a period of 44 years. All four sisters, Jean’s daughter, Lynette, and my daughter, Natalie, have worn the dress for their weddings. In all those years, it has never been altered except for the length when my daughter used it. I continue to save the dress, and hopefully, my granddaughters will also wear it someday.

“After we were all grown and married, Mother started making quilts for all her daughters and grandchildren. Over the years she made 27 quilts for her family. Mother went into the nursing in August 1997 and went home to be with the Lord Sept. 28, 1997. On the day of her funeral Union Bank and Trust Co. closed so employees could attend her funeral. That spoke highly of our Mother. She was a true Christian lady and a strong example to all who knew her. She was beautiful on the outside, but even more beautiful on the inside. How blessed we were to have had her as our Mother.”