Willie Vaughn, known to friends and family as “Uncle Dude,” spent most of his life giving back to the small Arkansas community.  Vaughn moved to Arkansas at an early age and had little formal education.  As a farmer who raised hogs, chickens, and cattle, Vaughn is an active member of Christian Methodist Episcopal Church, helping not only to build the church, but has also served in many leadership positions.  

Ross delivered the following comments on the United States House of Representatives floor:

“Willie Vaughn spent most of his life giving back to this small town located near the Ashley and Chicot County line in southeast Arkansas, just a few miles north of Louisiana,” said Ross.  “I can think of no person more deserving of this prestigious honor than Willie Vaughn. Mr. Vaughn embodies the definition of ‘giving back to your community.  At 101 years of age, Mr. Vaughn has spent a lifetime, or one might say over a century, working to improve Parkdale through dedication to the CME Church, as a civil rights leader working to remove racial barriers, lending an ear to friends and family throughout the community, throughout southeast Arkansas, and, throughout America. He did so as a school bus driver, as a farmer, as a devoted husband and father. It is evident that Mr. Vaughn's commitment and dedication to his church, to civil justice, and to community service has made a lasting impact on the Parkdale community and its people. 

“Willie Vaughn has served as a role model to many young people who grew up in this small town of 377 people, people like Congressman Danny Davis (IL-07), who now resides in Chicago but grew up in Parkdale, who has gone on to do great things all across America because of the way their lives were shaped and influenced by Mr. Willie Vaughn.” 

“The Willie Vaughn Post Office will stand for decades and generations to come as a testament to Mr. Vaughn's life and the influence, the impact he has made on so many people from all across this great country that spent a little bit of time growing up in that southeast Arkansas community that we call the town of Parkdale.”

Congressman Danny Davis (IL-07), a Parkdale, Arkansas native, also commented on the United States House of Representatives floor, “Uncle Dude never had much formal education. My cousin Cora said that he finished the second grade, and yet he has always been one of the smartest and wisest persons that I have ever known. He had what we call a degree in CSTA; that is, common sense, talent, and ambition.  Legend of Folklore has it that Willie as a little boy did not take kindly to farm work, did not practice it, and did not act as though he wanted to learn. Therefore, he was called “Dude,” and it stuck. However, Mr. Vaughn became self-taught and in many ways self-educated. He could do almost anything on and off the farm. He, like most of his peers, was a sharecropper, but he also owned the molasses mill and made syrup. He was a tailor and measured me for my first tailored suit, which another uncle of mine sent to me from St. Louis when I was graduating from elementary school, and, I might add, it was one of the few tailored suits that I have ever owned.”

The naming of post offices in the U.S. House of Representatives requires unanimous support of a state’s congressional delegation before the bill can be considered in the Government Reform Committee. H.R. 3853 was introduced by Ross and co-sponsored by Congressmen Marion Berry (AR-01), Vic Snyder (AR-02), and John Boozman (AR-03).  Ross worked with the Parkdale city council to garner community support to name the local post office in honor of Willie Vaughn.