Howard Adams Vaughan Jr.

Howard A. Vaughan Jr. (Howdy), 92, passed away peacefully on November 23, 2024. Howard was born at Passavant Hospital in the City of Chicago on July 4th, 1932. He was the son of Howard A. Vaughan Sr. and Martha (Zaring) Vaughan. Howard grew up in Winnetka, IL and enjoyed his summers as a young boy fishing and sailing at his family home in Lake Geneva, WI. Howard was a proud alum of the New Trier High School class of 1950. It was in high school where Howard made several life-long friends with whom he created many fun traditions and memories. Howard attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut for one year, joined the DKE fraternity and then happily transferred to Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, CA. It is in southern California where Howard discovered his love for the mountains and skiing.

After college, Howard served in the U.S. Army from which he earned an Honorable Discharge in 1956. That year he joined the family hammer manufacturing company, Vaughan & Bushnell Mfg. Co, as the 4th generation.  With Howard’s vibrant personality and famous handshake, he was a natural salesman and rose to become VP of Sales under his father. He became President in 1966 and set about a major undertaking to improve and modernize the manufacturing process and launched an aggressive marketing program to increase sales both nationally and internationally.

It was on an international ski trip with a childhood friend that Howard met his future wife, Heidi, on a Swissair plane flying from Switzerland back to the United States. After a year of separation, the two reconnected and married on February 14, 1966 in Heidi’s hometown of Lachen, Switzerland. The two decided to live and raise their three children in Lake Geneva, WI.

Family life in Wisconsin ensued, with business and personal travel, always returning to beloved Aspen, CO for ski trips, summer hiking and picnics and enjoying the beautiful Lake Geneva summers on the pier and boat rides in his wooden Lyman boat. During his semi-retired years, Howard found a passion for horse-racing and cherished his trips back to southern California to the race tracks.

Howard was known to be a generous man and supported many causes such as Holiday Home Camp, Water Safety Patrol, and the Geneva Lakes Association. He was a Lifetime Member of the Ryan Center Board of the Lyric Opera, supported the 100 Club of Illinois and a long-time Northwestern University and Chicago Bears football season ticket holder.

Howard is survived by his two sons Howard A. Vaughan III and Charles S. Vaughan, and his daughter Nicole Rowean (Bryant), and four grandchildren Keegan, Alex, Howard “Hayes" and Heidi Rowean. He was preceded in death by his wife, Heidi B. Vaughan and two sisters, Gloria Vaughan and Martha V. Atkinson.

A family service will be held at a future date.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made in his honor to Holiday Home Camp (https://lakegenevafreshair.org) or the Water Safety Patrol (https://watersafetypatrol.org) .

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Derrick Funeral Home is honored to be assisting the Vaughan family.

Holiday Home Camp,
P.O. Box 10, Williams Bay WI 53191
Tel: 1-262-245-5161
Web: http://www.holidayhomecamp.org/

Geneva Lake Water Safety patrol
451 Outing Street, P.O. Box 548 Williams Bay, WI 53191, AL
Tel: 1-262-245-6577
Web: http://watersafetypatrol.org/donate