Sister Barbara Vaughn, O.S.B., 1922-2008

Sr. Barbara Vaughn, OSB

Sister Barbara Vaughn, OSB, 86, a resident of St. Mary Monastery, Rock Island, died May 10, 2008, at the monastery.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Wednesday at the St. Mary Monastery Chapel.  Burial will be at a later date at Calvary Cemetery, Rock Island.  Visitation will be 4-7 p.m. Tuesday at the Monastery, where a Christian wake service will be at 7 p.m.  Memorials may be made to St. Mary Monastery, Rock Island.  Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Home, Milan, is assisting with arrangements.

Sister Barbara was born Jan. 8, 1922, in Lomax, Ill., the daughter of Arbin and Maude Breen Vaughn.  She attended Immaculate Conception School, Monmouth; Monmouth High School; St. Joseph Academy, Galesburg; and St. Mary’s Academy, Nauvoo, Ill.  She graduated from St. Ambrose College, Davenport, and University of Illinois, Champaign.

Sister Barbara entered the Benedictine Community on July 26, 1939, and made her first profession as a Benedictine Sister on June 30, 1941   Her ministry included 30 years as a teacher and/or administrator in the Peoria Diocese at St. Mary’s Moline; St. Anthony’s, Atkinson; St. Boniface, Peoria; Sts. Peter and Paul School and St. Mary’s Academy, Nauvoo; Immaculate Conception, Monmouth; and at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minn.  Sister Barbara spent 10 years at Booker T. Washington Jr. College, Birmingham, Ala.; worked with AIDS Ministry in Joliet, Ill.; and began the Families for Prayer Ministry out of Rockford, Ill.

Sister Barbara is survived by her Benedictine Sisters.  She was preceded in death by her parents and her brother, Richard.