Since his inauguration, Senator Don Vaughan has fought relentlessly for the people of Senate District 27. As a freshman Senator, Don Vaughan serves on the following committees:
- Appropriations on Education/Higher Education
- Appropriations/Base Budget
- Commerce
- Ethics
- Joint Legislative Study Commission on the Modernization of North Carolina Banking Laws and the Consumer Finance Act
- Joint Legislative Study Committee on State Funded Financial Aid
- Judiciary II (Vice Chair)
- Select Committee on Economic Recovery
- Select Committee on Energy, Science and Technology
- Transportation
Don's life in Greensboro and North Carolina
Don was born in 1952 at St. Leo's Hospital in Greensboro to Ray and Kitty Vaughan. His dad worked for Western Electric Corporation and Kitty worked for Prago-Guyes, a downtown Greensboro department store, and later was credit manager for the Greensboro News and Record.
Don attended Lindley Elementary and Lindley Jr. High. At the age of 9, Don's father passed away leaving his mother to raise him as her only child in their home on Mayflower Drive near UNC-G. He became an Eagle Scout and captained his high school tennis team. He worked his way through high school for the City of Greensboro as a summer playground director, at Belk Department store on the square, and at Friendly Shopping Center. He graduated from Grimsley High School in 1970.
Don entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was the first person to be awarded highest honors in speech in 1974. Following graduation, he received a Lectureship to the School of Government and Public Administration at American University in Washington to teach undergraduate political science and attend graduate school. Looking for a job to help pay his way through graduate school, he sat on the doorstep of then - United States Senator Sam Ervin, hoping to be the first person to get a job when the new United States Senator from North Carolina arrived in 1975. Senator Robert Morgan hired Don as his legislative clerk, where he served two years before returning to law school at Wake Forest University School of Law. He made the Wake Forest Law Review and received a North Carolina scholarship. Following graduation he was hired by Governor James B. Hunt's economic advisor to work as an attorney to the Governor's small and large business councils.
In 1982, he returned home to Greensboro to become Vice President of Stedman Corporation, a North Carolina based textile and apparel manufacturer. A strong advocate of our free enterprise system, he helped enact laws in 10 states to require teaching of the constitution and founding documents in the public schools. He was awarded at the North Carolina Court of Appeals the George Washington Freedom Medal for his legislative efforts. You can see Senator Vaughan's resume here.
Don has since practiced law in Greensboro from his downtown law office. He was first elected in 1991 to the Greensboro City Council, serving two terms as Mayor Pro Tem. He married the love of his life Nancy Mincello in 1999, also a member of the City Council. Their daughter Catherine was born in 2000 and she is entering the third grade this year. Don has two step sons, John, 26 and Michael, 24.
They have two dogs, Lola and Remington, who Don trained as a champion hunting retriever, winning Eastern North Carolina and Old South field trials last year.
