Thank you Jeri. There is no one more appropriate to start this thread than you. We all owe so much to our musical mentors -- and Vaughn was that to you and so many other people.

I first met Vaughn -- and George -- at the Fox Hollow Folk Festival in the early 70s. When I lived in Latham, NY, in 1974 and 1975, I got to know them better, particularly Vaughn, who was a new mom to Peter, and occasionally asked me to babysit with him while she worked. Her joy at being a mother and her obvious love of her new son made almost as big an impression on me as her joy in sharing music.

I met my husband-to-be, Joe Hickerson, at the Niskayuna festival, where Vaughn had assigned me as a volunteer to sell performers' records (those vinyl things with holes in the middle). Two special memories of Joe are entwined for me with special memories of Vaughn and George. Both involve a concert that Joe gave at the Rafters coffeehouse in Albany. During the singaround, Vaughn sang "The Gallowa' Hills" with George -- again with that wonderful joy, head thrown back, and smiling at the sheer pleasure of the song as it came alive. It made a big impression. Then, during his concert set, Joe sang Bill Staines' "I Can Feel the Sweet Winds Blowing." Vaughn and George were there with baby Peter. When Joe sang the verse that begins "I can hear the children singing," Peter sang along, the most melodic sound I've ever heard from a baby.

Over the years, Vaughn has shared so much -- as a musician, as a loving mother to her kids (and, more recently, a doting grandma), as a faithful and caring friend to her friends, and as a wise observer of the crazy business of life and love and family. Like Jeri, I will miss her warming presence in my world. Love to George, Than & Pete. Kathy