SYLACAUGA, Ala. – Thursday afternoon, April 12, the Sylacauga City Schools (SCS) Foundation held a service to present its 64th Chair honoring the family of Barry and Jane Vaughn.
The presentation began at 4:00 p.m. in the Sylacauga High School (SHS) foyer as SCS Foundation President John Parrish welcomed those in attendance.
After Tripp Dickson administered the invocation, the creator of the SCS Foundation, Dr. Joseph Morton, gave his remarks on Barry and Jane Vaughn as well as their three sons, Dale, Max, and Alex.
Dr. Morton first talked about the history of creating the Chair status within the SCS Foundation. A Chair is earned by donating at least $25,000 to the Foundation.
Later on, he brought up that the Foundation’s history was wrought by the efforts and hard work of its longest-standing board member, Jane McKinnon Vaughn.
Jane, former head majorette at SHS as well as Miss Sylacauga 1970 and 1971, has served on the Foundation’s board since 1994.
An esteemed educator, she also served as the SCS Foundation’s President from 2018 until 2020
After 29 years of her life’s dedication to the Foundation’s efforts to facilitate the best learning equipment, materials, and environment possible for the SCS system, Jane and her family received their Chair status.
Barry Vaughn also graduated from Sylacauga before marrying his high school sweetheart. He lettered in football and track at SHS before pursuing a law degree at the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University.
Barry has practiced at Proctor & Vaughn since 1975 after his graduation, and he has served for 45 years as a city judge in the city of Sylacauga. He is the second longest-serving city judge in Alabama’s history.
Their eldest son, Dale, was senior class president at SHS in 1996 and vice president of the student council. He graduated from Auburn University, where he now lives with his family, with a degree in logistics and currently runs a digital marketing firm, V3 Media, out of Opelika.
Max also served as vice president of SHS’s student council in 1997. He followed Dale to Auburn and graduated with a civil engineering degree. Max now serves as the Vice President of Engineering in Alabama with Goodwyn Mills Cawood and lives in Pike Road with his wife and children.
Alex spoke on behalf of the family at the presentation, and he jokingly noted that he one-upped his brothers by being the president of the SHS student council and going to the University of Alabama instead of Auburn. He graduated from Tuscaloosa with a master’s degree in marketing, and he, his wife, and children live in Gadsden where Alex works as a claims adjuster with Alfa Insurance for all of Etowah County.
The Vaughn Family, no matter where their branches have spread, still have their roots in Sylacauga and its school system. This strong Foundation, made with the material of faith, family, and friendship, was confirmed with the unveiling of the 64th chair for Jane, Barry, Dale, Max, and Alex Vaughn.
