Machine:
Machine: an electrical, electronic, or mechanical device for performing a task; in short they mean John Vaughn. He has sold the best of machines; Cadillac’s, drove the fastest of machines, a Mustang Saleen, and fought with the roughest machines, the army. Matter of fact John has done a lot of things and has been to a few different places. Work has taken him as far as Mexico and Puerto Rico and his wanting to learn propelled him into Campbell University at 17 years old and presently into East Carolina University at the wise old age of 22. John is always looking for the next ride or he is prepared when the next ride finds him. Sometimes he is so prepared to get on the road that he sends his ride ahead of him to plow a path for the future.
Steve McHenry, a buddy of John’s since his Campbell days, remembers the day John shipped out in his Saleen for better things. Only the Saleen took off by itself and left John in the cotton dust. Actually John was showing off his Mustang with the remote starter and when started the car decided to go for a little spin on its own, a couple hundred yards into a cotton field to be exact. Sometimes things do not start off on the right track and John has seen and knows this well. But no matter how high the wall John faces he has the ability to pick it apart one brick at a time. His girlfriend, Ashley Yopp, the karaoke fanatic, believes he has a knack for taking questions to the next level. And if you are someone who wants to question John you better have your facts straight because you can bet he does. Whether you are a professor, an interviewee or one of his close friends John will get the answer he wants by any means necessary.
John does not see the mirages that many young people see these days. His friend Nick Mincher says, “John is very straight forward…he is outspoken and extremely goal oriented.” Stories seem to tell themselves in Johns head. No difference if he catches the outer realms of a particular event or if he catches the core of the event, John will delve as deep into whatever or whoever he believes is vital for the story.
Through all the stories John tells or I hear from his friends he is an outdoorsman. I asked John who he would like to talk to the most in this or surrounding worlds and John gave the names of two interesting archaeologists. One by the name of David Childress and the other was the late G.E. Kincaid. Kincaid discovered a city in the Grand Canyon that was from the ancient world; in the city he actually found a mummy. These interests are no surprise to Nick, John’s road trip buddy, or too Steve, his camping buddy. They both say every time a trip comes along John is at the campsite before anyone even knows where it is. John likes to dig up the dirt so to speak and see what the land has to offer. You just do not want to rely on him for food; Steve says John is not the best fisherman. The safest bet with John is to grill the bait before he feeds it to what is supposed to be your dinner. Lucky for his buddies John likes preparing food from different cultures; there has to be hundreds of ways to fix raw fish, squid or worms.
No matter who I talk to the outcome is similar; John is an all around all-American. Steve noted back to the first time him and his family met John. John was working on the Saleen and needed a ride to the auto parts store. From that day on John received his new name, Cowboy, mainly due to his rugged clothing; wranglers, a denim shirt and of course a cowboy hat. Instantly John became good friends with Steve, and his wife and children. John is the only person that Steve trusts with his kids. I guess when you are the second oldest in a family of thirteen you pick up some parenting instincts. John says that his father is the most influential person in his life, whether he attributes his parenting skills to his father is a tougher question. John’s father taught him that the world is not black and white and now the grey area is where John keeps his mind set, the area that gives you two choices; to be or not to be. As long as John is not worrying about the things he owns and is surrounding himself with the ones he loves he believes his story will have the happiest of endings.
Filed under: Classmate Profiles, Spring 2008