Rovenia Vaughan was a trailblazing member of the Virginia State Conference of the NAACP.

In 1999, she was the first woman to be elected president of the state’s largest civil rights organization. The state branch was started in the 1930s.

“Once the ballots were counted, I felt the delegates had spoken and my past service to the organization was the reason I was elected,” she said when featured as the Free Press Personality in the Nov. 11-13, 1999, edition.

Ms. Vaughan loved the NAACP and served in numerous other capacities for her home branch in Powhatan County, as well as on the state and national levels.

She was a national board member, Powhatan branch president and, most recently, treasurer of the state branch.

“We have benefited from the labor of persons that have served in the past,” she said of why she served in the NAACP. “My service can be a return on their investments to this organization.”

Ms. Vaughan is being remembered following her death March 11, 2015.

Her life was celebrated at a funeral Wednesday, March 18, 2015, at Powhatan Community Church.

Ms. Vaughan was born and raised in Powhatan. She attended Powhatan schools and earned a certificate in secretarial science from Smith-Madden Business College in Richmond. She also took paralegal studies at J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College.

In addition to her volunteer dedication to the NAACP, Ms. Vaughan served in various charitable and faith-based organizations and was employed by the Powhatan Department of Social Services.

She was a devoted member of Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Powhatan.

Survivors include her brother, Junious Johnson, and a host of other family members and friends.