Vaughn Matthews, 76, of Monticello (Buffalo area) died Sunday, June 5, 2005 at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Lafayette.

He was born in Iroquois County, Ill., on August 27, 1928, to Frank and Myrtle Mason Matthews. He married Collette Casting at Monticello on February 11, 1972. She survives.

He moved to White county as a small child and graduated from Reynolds High School in 1945.

He joined the U.S. Navy during World War II where he served two years.

After leaving the service, he worked at Kroger in Monticello as an assistant manager for 10 years. He then worked at Cheeseboro Ponds where he retired as warehouse manager. While there he was also president of Dalton Shippers in Dallas, Texas. After retirement he worked part-time for the White County Sheriff's Department as a transportation officer. He also worked for the White County Health Department as a Certified Pool Inspector. Over the past year, he enjoyed working at the Lakes Information Booth.

In his retirement, he enjoyed traveling and spending his winters in Mission, Texas.

His favorite pastimes were traveling, pitching horseshoes where he was also the president, watching sports on TV, reading and visiting with his family and many friends. His favorite teams were the Indiana Pacers, Houston Astros and Houston Rockets.

He was a 56-year life member of American Legion Post 81, Monticello where he was also a past commander.

Surviving along with his wife are; [sic] daughters Judy (Tom) Dowden of Carroll County, Debbie Bresnaham of Delphi, Gina (Don) Fawley of Buffalo; sons, Ron Matthews of Carroll County and Mike Owenburger of Atlanta, Ga.; step-daughters, Myrian (Garry) Zalinski of Houston, Texas and Suzette Ledford of Fayetteville, N.C.; step-sons, William Perrin of Milwaukee, Wisc. and Patrick (Tiffany) Perrin of Scottsdale, Ariz.; sister-in-law, Pauline Matthews of Burnettsville; step-mother, Edith Ruhlander of Lafayette; half-brother Virgil Matthews of Lafayette; 21 grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

A son, Joseph Matthews, brothers Cecil Matthews and Leonard Matthews and a sister, Vaynetta Holeman are deceased.

Funeral services were at Miller-Roscka Funeral Home in Monticello with Rev. James Goodrum officiating.

Burial with full military rites were [sic] at the Hughes Cemetery.