Roy "Butch" Sims  Goodman, Jr., age 71, passed away Wednesday, June 9, 2010 at Texoma Medical Center after a battle with cancer.

James Blankenship, DHS Class of 1949

Judge R.C. Vaughan, DHS Class of 1931

Senior District Judge (retired) R.C. Vaughan, 94, of Sherman, died early Tuesday, March 16, 2010, at Wilson N. Jones Hospital in Sherman. Judge Vaughan served Sherman and Grayson County for more than 30 years as judge of the 15th District Court, and was a Grayson County historian, newspaper columnist, author and in more county endeavors that any other person.

Family visitation will be Friday from 6 until 8 p.m. at Dannel Funeral Home in Sherman. A graveside service for family and friends will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday at Cedarlawn Memorial Cemetery on Texoma Parkway.

Judge Vaughan was born Nov.18, 1915, near Hollis, OK, where his parents, Samuel Benton Vaughan and Anna Armilda Hendrix Vaughan farmed for eight years before returning to Grayson County.

He attended Golden Rule, Cherry Mound and Denison schools and graduated from Denison High School in 1931 at the age of 15. He enrolled in the University of Texas in September 1932, taking pre-law courses and was a member of the Longhorn Band while a student there. He received his Law degree from UT in May 1938 and opened a law office in Denison in 1939. He was appointed city attorney of Denison in 1941.

That same year he married Ona Sutherland of Winnsboro, a registered nurse at the Katy Hospital. They had been married 65 years when she died on Dec. 19, 2006.

He enlisted in the Army as a private in 1942, then was accepted for training at the Army Counter Intelligence School and later was appointed a special agent with the CIC in South Texas, New Mexico, and the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. While on the Island of Guadalcanal he was promoted to first lieutenant and later served as Judge Advocate in the Judge Advocate General Corps.

When he was discharged from the Army in 1946 he returned to his law practice with Hal M. Rawlins in Denison. In 1948 he was elected Judge of the Grayson Court at Law, then in 1952 he was elected judge of the 15th Judicial District Court and served in that office until his retirement in 1985, the longest tenure of any elected public official in Grayson County history. Even after retirement he was a “traveling judge,” spending many days on the bench in Gainesville and Dallas.

In 1992 the Grayson County Law Library in the Sherman courthouse was named in his honor. Through the years he was active in many programs, including the Boy Scouts, the Optimist and Kiwanis clubs, Juvenile Board of Grayson County for 32 years, Juvenile Alternatives and was an organizer of the Grayson County Family Clinic. His service to the community stretches across many organizations throughout the county.

He was a past president of the Grayson County Historical Society, a member of the Grayson County Historical Commission and the Texas Historical Commission. He was a trustee of the Old Settlers Association, past president of Grayson County Frontier Village, a 50 year member of Lone Star Lodge 403, AF&AM in Denison and held district and grand lodge positions.

In 1984 he was named chairman of the Grayson County Sesquicentennial Committee and in 1989 was chairman of the county’s bicentennial celebration and later co-chairman of the county Millennium Committee. In 1990 he was awarded the Outstanding Jurist Award by the Texas Bar Foundation.

Judge Vaughan began writing a weekly column in the Herald Democrat about Grayson County’s colorful history in 1985. Twenty-five years later, his column is still appearing in the newspaper and the number has grown to almost 1,000 columns.

In 2007 the Herald Democrat and the Grayson County Millennium Committee co-sponsored the publishing of a book of his columns, “The Life & Times of Grayson County, Texas.” The book sold out in one month and has been reprinted.

The Judge was preceded in death by one son, James Benton Vaughan; his parents, former County Commissioner Ben and Anna Vaughan; and one sister, Inez Vaughan Hord and his dear friend, Neilson Rodgers.

The family would like to thank his special caregiver, Nelda Burks of Sherman for her kindness with Judge Vaughan.

He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Charles and Susan Vaughan of Sherman; four grandchildren, Chris Vaughan of Greenville, Laura Kesler and husband, Chris of Washington, D.C., Kristi Butler and husband, Cody, of Keller, and Elizabeth Porras of Dallas; six great-grandchildren, Austin and Emily Butler of Keller, Megan, Lauryn, Cody, and Shannyn Kesler of Seattle, WA; two special nieces, Donna Hord Hunt and husband, David of Denison and Monna Hord Buckley and husband, Newton,
of McKinney; and several other nieces and nephews.
 

Nina Ray Edwards, DHS Graduate

Nina Ray Edwards, 90, of Calera, Okla. passed away Monday night Jan. 11, 2010 at Texoma Medical Center in Denison.

She was born Feb. 14, 1919 in Preston Bend, and was the daughter of the late Grover T. and Grace Jackson Caddell. She attended Denison schools and was a Denison High School graduate. She married Roger Edwards in 1938 and he preceded her in death in 1983.

She was a homemaker and a longtime member of the First Baptist Church in Colbert. She was also preceded in death by a daughter Rebecca Kerney in 2005; a sister Lorene Linville in 1991 and a brother-in-law, Worley Linville in 2003.

She is survived by her son, Layne Edwards and wife Brenda of Calera, Okla.; son-in-law, Henry Kerney of Dallas; grandsons, Marcus Kerney of Dallas, and Brandon Shivers of McKinney; nephew, Danny Linville and wife Joan of Cobb, Okla., and niece, June Linville of Littleton, Colo. Numerous other nieces and nephews also survive.

Noel D. Wall, DHS Graduate

 As an executive with the federal government, a dedicated family man, and an avid rancher, Noel D. Wall never wasted a minute. He had high standards, and with every success, he looked for the next challenge. If he couldn't get something done as quickly as he'd hoped, he'd often say with a smile, "Time just ran out on me." The same could be said for the morning of New Year's day. Mr. Wall died at his home in Bells after a brave battle with ALS. Nancy (Monroe) Wall, his high school sweetheart and wife of 49 years, was by his side.

Mr. Wall was born in Sherman on Oct. 21,1938, and grew up on his parents' dairy, outside Pottsboro, milking cows every morning and evening. He met Nancy, the love of his life, at church, and they were married in 1960. To pay for her engagement ring, he joked that he had milked 12,000 cows.

After graduating from Denison Senior High School, where he was named "Most Dependable" in the senior class and received the Hi-Y Cup of Complete Manhood, he earned a business degree from Southeastern Oklahoma State University, in Durant, Okla., and a master's of public administration from the University of Oklahoma, in Norman, Okla. He was later named a distinguished alumnus of both Denison Senior High and Southeastern Oklahoma State.

Mr. Wall began his four-decade career with the Social Security Administration in 1960 and was appointed to his first executive level job at the age of 30. From 1985 to 1997, he served as the regional commissioner of SSA serving Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana. This territory was later expanded to include Colorado, Utah, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Over the years, he won numerous honors for his leadership, including the Presidential Rank Award, which was awarded by President Bill Clinton, and the Ewell T. Bartlett Award for Humanity in Government, which he received in part for his tireless efforts after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, in Oklahoma City, where sixteen SSA employees lost their lives.

His commitment to helping others extended beyond his government service. Mr. Wall was on the Texoma Regional Advisory Council on Aging and was active at Western Heights Church of Christ, where he served as an elder for nine years. Yet he was as comfortable in his Wranglers and boots as he was in a suit and tie. He had a lifelong love of horses and especially enjoyed raising and showing cutting horses. And he passed his love of the outdoors along to his six-year-old granddaughter Madeline, whose pony, Dandy, is named for Mr. Wall's father.

Mr. Wall is survived by Nancy, their daughter Shelley Parks, of Plano, their daughter and son-in-law Noelle and Brian Sweany, of Sachse; his four grandchildren, Greg Parks and his wife Andrea, of Rowlett, Dustin Mitchell, of Chattanooga, Tenn., and Madeline and Colin Noel Sweany, of Sachse. He is also survived by his sister, Danna Beth Schleuse, of Denison, his cousin, Rick Fawcett, of Denison, his father-in-law, R.E. Monroe, of Denison, his brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Bob and Shirley Monroe, of Flower Mound, numerous nieces and nephews, and a life-long friend who was more like a brother, Frank Darrow and his wife, Irene, of Sachse. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Jennifer Wall Mitchell, his son-in-law Bill Parks, and his beloved parents, J.F. (Dandy) and Mildred Wall.