Virginia Ruth Vaughan

FREDERICKSBURG Virginia Ruth Vaughan went to be with her Savior after a brief battle with cancer on Sunday June 19, 2011, in Fredericksburg, Texas. Virginia Ruth Albertson Vaughan was born May 3, 1931, in Lamesa, Texas. She was adopted by Rev. William Herring and Helen Winston Albertson of Munday, Texas. Virginia Ruth attended the Munday public schools and graduated from Munday High School in 1948. During her childhood she took piano and voice lessons and developed and perfected her love for music, which remained a dynamic part of her life for the rest of her life. In 1951, she graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from Howard Payne College in Brownwood, Texas, the second generation of her family to do so. Her mother was a former professor and her father a graduate of Howard Payne. After graduation from Howard Payne, she began her teaching career in Snyder, Texas. In 1952, she married Kenneth Wayne Vaughan of Johntown, Texas, in Abilene, Texas, and they moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where her husband, who had been called to the ministry, enrolled in the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Virginia Ruth's family had deep ties with the seminary. Her maternal grandmother, Lily Frazier Winston, donated the land on which the seminary stands today. While in Fort Worth, Virginia Ruth continued her teaching career and taught second grade in the Fort Worth public school system. Her husband graduated with a Master's in Religious Education in 1955 and was also pastor at the Baptist church in Brooksmith, Texas. In October of 1956, they moved to Eden, Texas, where her husband became pastor of First Baptist Church. During that time, their three children, Marcella Ann, Kenneth Albertson and Carolyn Elizabeth were born. Church programs for the young people of the communities in which they lived were always important to Virginia Ruth. She organized and led many of the children's Christmas pageants through the years. She was active in organizing church activities for teenagers, she taught young people's Sunday school classes, and was regular teacher/leader in W.M.U. programs. In 1963, the family moved to Eldorado, Texas, where her husband was pastor of First Baptist Church. Once again, Virginia Ruth resumed her teaching career and taught 3rd grade in the Eldorado Public Schools for 3 years. Her first commitment was always to her husband and her children. In 1974, they moved to Comanche, Texas, and her husband was First Baptist Church pastor until 1982. They moved to Brownwood, and then to Zephyr, Texas, where her husband was pastor of the Zephyr Baptist Church until his death in 1995. With her head high, and always having had a clear vision of who she was, Virginia Ruth soon resumed her church work after the sudden loss of her husband. She continued to work and teach in Vacation Bible School, which she did from the summer of 1943 until she was no longer able and became a permanent resident of a Brown county nursing home in 2007 and then moved to Knopp Nursing Home in Frederickburg, Texas in 2009. She passed away in Hill Country Memorial Hospital with her children at her side. Virginia Ruth is survived by her three children, Marcella Stives of Belton, Texas, Kenny and Donna Vaughan; her two grandsons, William and Joe Vaughan of Fredericksburg and Carolyn and Ken Polzel of Oregon City, Ore.; one brother, W.J. Albertson of Richardson, Texas; one sister, Helen Havins of Holliday, Texas; and many nieces and nephews and great-nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, William H. and Helen W. Albertson; brother William Howard Albertston; sister Lily Peek Hall; and her husband, Kenneth Wayne Vaughan. Virginia Ruth's children wish to express their deepest appreciation to the dedicated staff at Knopp Nursing Home, who made Virginia Ruth "at home" there, to the doctors and nurses at Hill Country Memorial Hospital and the Fredericksburg Hospice staff for their tireless and compassionate care that allowed their mother to pass with dignity, honor and comfort. Memorial donations are requested to be made to Howard Payne University, Brownwood, Texas or to your local chapter of the American Cancer Society. Funeral service is at 10 a.m. Tuesday June 21, 2011, at First Baptist Church of Fredericksburg, Texas. Graveside services and interment is at 3 p.m. Tuesday June 21, 2011, in Greenleaf Cemetery in Brownwood. Expressions of sympathy may be sent at schaetter.com. Arrangements are by the Schaetter Funeral Home of Fredericksburg.