Long-time Hastings resident, Evadne Linnea Vaughan, 84, died Tuesday, January 4th, 2011 in her home. Her Memorial Service will be 10:30am, Friday, January 14th at the First United Methodist Church in Hastings with Reverend Alan Davis officiating. A private family burial will follow at Parkview Cemetery. Memorials may be given to First United Methodist Church or Hastings College.

Evadne (ee vod knee) was born on September 8, 1926 in Lynch, Nebraska just across the border of South Dakota. Her parents, Hilding R. and Leona M. Lonnquist, settled on a farm in Gregory County near Fairfax. Due to hardships of the depression, the family moved in with relatives in Axtell, Nebraska in 1938. Although they would live in Bertrand one year, the Axtell area would become home throughout Evadne’s younger years. Her grandfather Reverend Carl A. Lonnquist directed Bethphage Mission from 1917 to 1937. Her maternal grandmother came to America into the prairie regions before the establishment of Ellis Island, when immigrants bought up land for very little.

Evadne’s childhood was immersed in relatives and personalities descended directly from Sweden.

In 1943 the family moved to Hastings where she attended Hastings High School her senior year. Friendships made that one year held true throughout her life. Graduating in 1944, Evadne worked calculating lumber at the NAD and was asked to stay on as she had a knack for saving them money. But her desire to go to college prevailed and she enrolled at Hastings College during the war when only a few ministerial men attended. She studied piano with Miss Tirrell, learned to play bridge on campus and was enamored with English Literature.

After the war she married William Byron Vaughan, a WWII cargo pilot, who she met registering him at Hastings College her sophomore year. Bill worked in his father’s newspaper The Blue Hill Leader and later operated Vaughans Printers in Hastings, where she was a part time employee in the early years. In 1973, Evadne went back to college to complete her English degree and began working on the library staff at Hastings High. For 20 years at HHS, she helped students write papers, got them interested in books and created a reference file that became famous for its rich subject matter.

Evadne was a member of the First United Methodist Church, PEO Chapter G, Fish Fry, Outlook Book Club, and her literary group the Finches of the Grove. Over the years she volunteered at the Public Library, was on the symphony board, and loved hosting various Rotary students from abroad. A few of her many passions were going to national seminars on Willa Cather, pioneer history, geology, the world of classic literature, and Tennis with a capital “T”. She loved a competitive game of bridge and belonged to three bridge groups most of her retired life.

Evadne was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, her brother–in-laws, Thomas C. Vaughan and Liddell “Whitey” Sieckmann and her sister-in-law, Winnie Vaughan.

Survivors include:
Son: William R. Vaughan - Hastings, NE
Daughter: Mary L. Vaughan – Hastings, NE & Santa Rosa, CA
Grandchildren: Maggie Vaughan - Hastings, NE
    Kali Vaughan - Olathe, KS
Sisters: Lorraine Sieckmann - Omaha, NE
    Corene Bernatz - Rochester, MN
Nieces and Nephews:
    Karen McCall - St. Paul, MN
    Donny McCall - Rochester, MN
    Russ McCall - Jacksonville Beach, FL
    Kate McCall-Isles - Duluth, MN
    Tom Sieckmann - Omaha, NE
    Paul Sieckmann - Scottsdale, AZ
    James Sieckmann - Omaha, NE
    David Vaughan - Albuquerque, NM
    Kathy Vaughan - Missoula, MT
    Jim Vaughan - Omaha, NE

Mother left us today. For those of you who knew her or heard me speak of her, she was a
unique character with vast knowledge of many things and a wonderful sense of humor despite
her Swedish stubborn streak. We will miss her and I will carry her with me wherever I go.
A month ago I found this poem behind a photo of her and asked her about it. She replied
from her bed in the den with the tennis channel on, “oh, I wrote that 20 years ago or so
after a tulip appeared in the back yard. I wanted to practice a 14-line sonnet.”

Sonnet

One lonely tulip in my back yard
From whence it came, I know not, yet
Some playful squirrel, or foxy bird,
Or creepy, crawling large insect –
I wonder who has planted it.

It waxes and wains through wind and rain
As stalwart and steady as any tree.
The sun’s bright light makes it bow in vain
The bulb, while brown, takes root in debris.
Green grass surrounds her, just for me.

Graceful in life, but in Nature’s hour
Death comes at last in a garden bower
What strange configuration doth God empower
Such beauty lies in a single flower.

Evadne L. Vaughan

Mom found infinite life in books - from her early years volunteering at the Public Library, to her passion for Nebraska writers
(Willa Cather & Loren Eiseley) to her continued degree in English from Hastings College in the 70’s, to Outlook Club,
Fish Fry & her beloved Finches Book Club, mom felt most at home with a book in her hand. She also loved Emily Dickinson.

There is no frigate like a book
to take us lands away,
Nor any coursers like a page
Of prancing poetry.

This traverse may the poorest take
Without oppress of toll;
How frugal is the chariot
That bears the human soul!

Emily Dickinson (1830–1886)