Background
Vaughan was born on December 19, 1905 in Salem, Massachusetts, as the son of a wealthy leather tanner and shoe manufacturer.
Vaughan was born on December 19, 1905 in Salem, Massachusetts, as the son of a wealthy leather tanner and shoe manufacturer.
Harvard University.
He also ran dog teams in a professional capacity as part of a search and rescue unit in World World War II, in sporting events like the Olympics and the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, and in three Presidential Inauguration ceremonies. In his youth, he became fascinated by tales of early-century polar explorers. He dropped out of Harvard in 1928 when he heard that Admiral Richard East. Byrd was organizing an expedition to Antarctica.
Admiral Byrd accepted him on the 1928–1930 expedition, eventually naming a mountain on the continent in his honor.
Vaughan appeared in the documentary film With Byrd at the South Pole (1930). In 1994, at the age of 88, Vaughan participated in an expedition to climb the 10,302 ft (3,150 m) Mount Vaughan.
His plans to return in December 2005, to celebrate his 100th birthday, were scrapped in August due to lack of funds. A highlight of his publicity push was his appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on May 10, 2005, and a full-page article in the Los Angeles Times.
He made plans to return in 2006 but these were halted by his death just six months before the scheduled date.
In 1932, he competed in the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York in the sprint mushing demonstration sport. He was also a veteran of the Korean War. Vaughan moved to Alaska at the age of 68.
In 1981 and 1985, he and his Alaskan contingent formally participated in the parade.
He also had a mountain named after him in the Antarctic. In 1997, he organized the annual Norman Vaughan Serum Run to commemorate the 1925 serum run to Nome, which saved the town from a diphtheria epidemic.
On the celebration of his 100th birthday on December 18, 2005, surrounded by over 100 friends and family, he had champagne, his first drink of liquor in his life, after promising his mother he wouldn"t drink until he was 100. Several days later, he died in the Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage at around 10:30 Department of Administration and Management on December 23, 2005.