Popular local reverend heading to retirement
WOONSOCKET — The goal of the Metta Night Market at 40 South Main St. Friday evening was to bring people together and catch up with good friends just as the Rev. Dr. Sammy C. Vaughan did while having his supper there.
Rev. Vaughan, Senior Pastor at the St. James Baptist Church, enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich from the Bugg’D Out BBQ concession, and spent time talking to members of the community he knew that were participating in the evening’s activities.
He is long time city leader, of course, serving the past 28 years as pastor of St. James and also as a longtime chaplain for the Woonsocket Police Department.
Rev. Vaughan will be retiring from St. James on Oct. 22.
On Friday, Vaughan, 86, said he has long enjoyed his many ties to the Woonsocket community but as things do change in life, he is now heading back to live in Franklin, Virginia, where he set out from many years ago.
“I joined the Navy from there in 1948 and I haven’t been back as permanent resident since,” said Rev. Vaughan, who was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., before moving to Virginia.
The journey he started with the Navy led him through a 22-year military career that saw service during the Korean and Vietnam wars. He retired in 1969 as a Chief Petty Officer in aviation stores, and went on to attend the University of Rhode Island and Providence College. He earned his bachelor’s degree in hospital administration from Providence College in 1976, and earned his masters in Religious Education from the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in 1990, and his doctorate in Religious Education from Andersonville Theological Seminary in 1997.
Vaughan’s wife of 63 years, Gwendolyn E. (Maynard) Vaughan, passed on Sept. 28, 2016, at the age of 82. Rev. Vaughan and Gwendolyn, the First Lady of St. James, who made their home on Campeau Street, raised three sons, Vincent, Richard, and Michael, and a daughter, Vianne Olds.
Vaughan, now working with the Rev. Jeffrey Thomas at St. James, said on Friday that he is retiring after what has “been a great experience for me and a chance to interact with people of Woonsocket.”
“It’s just been a great experience being Pastor of the church and dealing with the church community as well,” the Rev. Vaughan said.
His service with the Woonsocket Police Department as one of its chaplains will also be a fond memory he holds in the coming years. He had worked closely with Chief Thomas S. Carey as chaplain and after Carey’s retirement has continued that role with the Department’s new chief, Thomas F. Oates III.
“They have tremendous professionalism in the Woonsocket Police Department and I have the highest respect for them,” Vaughan said. Members of the department’s leadership have always been accessible and respectful whenever he needed to work on a project or a concern, according to Vaughan. The result of that professionalism can be found on the streets of Woonsocket, he said. “I think the department is doing a tremendous job because this is a peaceful city. You can walk the streets in this city and feel comfortable and safe,” Vaughan said.
As for what the future will hold for him during his own period of transition and the move back to his former home, Vaughan said he believes it will turn out just fine.
He is selling his home on Campeau and will be moving into a development in Virginia where he knows three pastors in neighborhood. “I am retiring but I’m not giving up preaching and I am sure I will be asked to fill in for my neighbors from time to time,” he said.
Vaughan said his home will also be located near a golf course and he may try his hand at that sport since he will have the time to take it on.