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Interview with Tom Vaughan via Zoom on April 2, 2022. Interview was conducted by Micah Mizukami. This project was a collaboration between the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa's Center for Oral History and the National Park Service. BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARYThomas “Tom” George Vaughan was born in Merrill, Wisconsin, in 1940. He grew up on his family’s homestead, granted to his great grandfather, Christie Vaughan, in 1904 by President Theodore Roosevelt. After graduating high school in 1958, he attended Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin, for a year before signing up for the draft, serving six months active duty in the Army. After the draft, Tom briefly returned to Northland but decided to enlist in the Army for three years. After completing his military service, he graduated with a degree in sociology from Pacific Lutheran University, then pursued a graduate degree in anthropology at the University of Southern Illinois at Carbondale. In the summer of 1965, he had an opportunity to do an internship with the Bishop Museum doing fieldwork on Hawaiʻi Island and working at Bishop Museum. The following summer, Tom worked as a seasonal interpreter at Mesa Verde National Park and officially entered the National Park Service in 1967, when he was sent to Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park. In December of 1969, he was selected to be the first District Ranger at the Kīpahulu District of Haleakalā National Park. After five years in Hawaiʻi, Tom took the lessons he learned on Maui and the Big Island to have an (illustrious career with the National Park Service, moving on to Point Reyes National Seashore as Assistant Chief Naturalist, then to Hubbell Trading Post National Historic Site as Superintendent for four years. He continued on as a Superintendent at Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site then went on to Harpers Ferry, where he began as Chief of Branch of Conservation Laboratories before becoming a Staff Curator for the Chief Curator’s Staff until 1985. His last assignment with the NPS was as Superintendent at Chaco Culture National Historical Park, where he served until 1989. He went on to work at the Bureau of Land Management’s Anasazi Heritage Center as Chief of Visitor Services and retired from government service in 1995. He edited the Mancos Times weekly newspaper from May 1999 to May 2006. Tom currently does photography with his wife, Sandy Feutz. |
Last updated: January 28, 2025