Vaughn, Cosa Mae(Rawlins)Thompson     dw/Donald Vaughn;w/Whitney Thompson

Burial Date:  2015,  10/30       Age: 96       Lot: CS  03 C

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Cosa Mae Vaughn, 96, departed this life on Oct. 23, 2015 in Sterling, Kan. Born on Christmas Day in 1918 to Benjamin J. and Leona M. (Martin) Rawlins in Sterling, Kan., Cosa grew up and spent most of her life in the Sterling area.
She graduated from Sterling High School in 1936. She graduated from Sterling College in 1940 and then attended the University of Kansas for a few years. Cosa joined several of her siblings in California in 1943, where she worked as a ‘Rosie the Riveter’ at a munitions plant in San Diego. There she met and married Whitney Thompson. They had two daughters and a son. When Whitney was lethally wounded, Cosa returned to Sterling. She married Donald Vaughn. They had two daughters.
Cosa was preceded in death by her parents, first husband Whitney, and siblings Charles Rawlins, Walter Lee Rawlins, Anna Morgan, Konstance Mitchell,  Bill Rawlins, Lionel Rawlins, Gaylord Rawlins, Harold Rawlins, John Rawlins and Ed Rawlins, son-in-law Richard Adams and grandson Cecil (Scooter) Moore.
Left to cherish her memory are five children, Leona and husband Cecil Moore of Hampton, Va., Sherry Adams of Silver Springs, Md., Dan and wife Vivian (Alfie) Thompson of Gardner, Kan., Geraldine and husband Eddie Tipton of Hutchinson, Kan., and Johnese and husband Kurt Gillespie of Lyons, Kan.; siblings Paul Rawlins of Hutchinson, Dimple Santos of San Diego, Ardise (Creasy) Rawlins of San Diego and Winston Rawlins of Austin, Tx; nine grandchildren, Steven Moore of Houston; Kenneth and wife Sarah Moore of Newport News, Va., Danedri and husband Joe Herbert and Drew Thompson of Gardner, Ben Adams of Shippensburg, Pa., Whitney Adams of Silver Springs, Md., Wesley and wife Emma Vaughn of Hutchison, and James (Pete) Hutcherson of Hutchinson, and Jonathan Gillespie of Lyons, and four great-grandchildren Morgan, Ella, Isabella and Zachary Moore.
The family wishes to express sincere thanks to the staff at Sterling Presbyterian Manor for the thoughtful care she received there and special appreciation to neighbors and good friends, Clarence and Denise Johnson for their many acts of loving kindness.
Visitation will be at Birzer Funeral Home, Sterling on Friday, October 30th from 9:00 to 11:00 am.  A graveside service will be at 11 a.m. on Oct. 30 at the Sterling Cemetery.
Memorials to Presbyterian Manor, Sterling in care of the funeral home.

STERLING – Cosa Mae Vaughn, 96, died Oct. 23, 2015, in Sterling. Born Dec. 25, 1918, to Benjamin and Leona (Martin) Rawlins. Survivors: four siblings; five children; nine grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Visitation 9 to 11 a.m. Friday at Birzer Funeral Home, Sterling. Graveside service will be held at 11 a.m. Friday in Sterling Cemetery, Sterling. Memorials to Sterling Presbyterian Manor.

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Interview with Cosa Mae Vaughn        16 February 1993

Folk History of Sterling Cemetery Colored Section

Ku Klux Klan pushed to have blacks not buried in the cemetery proper.  A man named Watkins owned the area named Potter’s Field to the East fence.  In his will he stipulated that the ground was to be used for burial of colored people at no expense.

Eli Kern and Boydston, uncles of Cosa Mae, marked area into sections with lots. Cosa Mae thinks a formal map did not exist.   BC