J. Kenneth Vaughan

Jack Kenneth Vaughan, known to his friends and family as Ken, was born in Mexia, Texas on April 21, 1936 and passed away on April 29, 2026 eight days after celebrating his 90th birthday. He married Jackie Campbell on May 8th, 1965 and together they celebrated 54 years of marriage before her passing in 2019.

He went to work at the University of Texas Balcones Research Center, later renamed the J.J. Pickle Research Center after graduating from the University of Texas. He worked in many different areas at the university including celestial mechanics, and in his later work with sonar and signal physics, working on many projects in collaboration with the United States Navy. He was the longest serving employee for the University of Texas and the 2nd longest state employee. He retired for the third and last time in February of this year after working for 68 years. He was proud to have completed the project he had been working on for the last couple of decades, and knew he had handed off his work to others to carry on the project.

He and mom also enjoyed traveling and seeing the world. For many years, they made an annual trek to Big Bend National Park, a trip they had to book the day after New Years for the following year. They took many vacations to many of the other national parks and other places in the United States, and in later years, around the world. They traveled to Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, Nova Scotia, Africa, Egypt, and Costa Rica twice. He enjoyed taking photographs of all the places they would travel and would put together calendars every year with pictures he took during their travels and would share these with his family and friends. We would tease him that he always took the scenery pictures and mom took the people pictures.

He is predeceased by his wife, Jackie C. Vaughan, and is survived by his daughter, Celesa and her husband, John, and his son Christopher Vaughan. He is also survived by his four grandchildren, Ian and Colin Roach, and Camille and Conner Vaughan.

In lieu of flowers please consider making a donation in his honor to The Settlement Home or Christopher House.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Cook-Walden Chapel of the Hills, 9700 Anderson Mill Road, Austin, Texas 78750, on June 12, 2026 at 2pm. A reception will be held immediately following the service so we can continue sharing stories and honoring his memory.