Nikki Vaughn

Nicole (Nikki) Rena Vaughn was born in Wheat Ridge, Colorado on September 18, 1967 to Horace and June Vaughn. She entered into eternal life on November 24, 2020.

Nikki attended and graduated from Weiland School and immediately entered into the workforce! She retired after 35 years at Deer Creek Animal Hospital. The vets said Nikki was their oldest employee! Nikki was active in the Special Olympics, earning over 40 medals in swimming and gymnastics. She also was an avid snow skier. Nikki loved spending summers at Williams Fork Reservoir, fishing with her mom and dad, family and friends.

Nikki is survived by her mother, June Vaughn; brothers Kenny (Taffy) Vaughn, Steve (Stacey) Vaughn; her sister Belva (John) Sieck; nephew Justin (Amanda) Sieck; and great nieces Ainsley and MaKenna Sieck. Nikki is also survived by Aunts Judy, Carolyn and Marilyn and many cousins. Nikki is preceded in death by her father, Horace Vaughn.

A Visitation will be held for Nikki on Wednesday, December 2nd from 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM at Calvary South Denver Church, 9052 W. Ken Caryl Avenue, Littleton, CO 80128. Her Funeral Service will immediately follow at 11:00 AM. For those who can't attend Nikki's service, please join us virtually by clicking on the following link: Youtube.com/Calvarycsd/live

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Down Syndrome Association (rmdsa.org), Alzheimer’s Association (alz.org) or The Arc (arcjc.org).

Special Thoughts from Kenny Vaughn:

When our sweet little sister was born into our lives, we were clueless what the term “Down Syndrome” meant. Do you mean she’s retarded? we asked the doctor. “No” he said. “It’s an abnormality with her chromosomes. She will have deficiencies other children don’t have;  slower growth, speech, other problems.”

It took me many years to understand that we are born with 23 pairs of chromosomes, totaling 46. Down Syndrome children don’t have the normal number of chromosomes. I didn’t know what the normal number was. My assumption was that if Nikki and others like her were deficient in some way, they are obviously lacking the total 46 chromosomes that most of us have.

After a period of time and moving away from home, I forgot about what was “abnormal” with Nikki…nothing was abnormal…she was perfect, “fearfully and wonderfully made”.

In time, I learned that Down Syndrome babies aren’t lacking in chromosomes, they actually have an extra one, a total of 47. So Nikki and others like her are given something more than most of us have.

During these last several months, while considering her life, all that she has been blessed to do and the many special people in her life who she has touched, it made me think about that extra chromosome.  What was in that chromosome that made Nikki special? It dawned on me one night: She had a extra portion of “Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness and Self Control”.  The Fruit of the Spirit.

If only we could all have a double portion of the Fruit of the Spirit…