Noel W. Vaughn, age 79, passed away quietly on June 10, 2017, while in Hospice Care at Lincoln Park Manor in Kettering. Noel was born in Chicago, Illinois to Owen and Harriet Wyandt. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband Charles Vaughn, along with her brother John Wyandt, and sister Joanie Vreeman. Her son, John (Jean) Koch, survives her, along with her grandchildren Jeremy Koch, and Dr. Brittany (Matthew) Blaise, and close friends Jim McCarthy, David Dailey, and Leslie Loper. Noel earned a Bachelor’s degree in English from DePauw University and a Master’s degree in English from Southern Illinois University. She taught at Wright State University and the Miami Valley School and worked as a Communications Specialist at the Kettering Foundation prior to attending The University of Dayton School of Law, where she earned her law degree in 1979. Noel was admitted to practice law in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio, and the Supreme Court of Ohio. In 1981, Noel was one of the founding partners of Henley, Vaughn, Becker and Wald, Dayton’s first woman-owned private law practice. Noel pursued a distinguished career as an advocate of women’s rights and equal opportunity. She lived that commitment with her extensive community service and her heartfelt legal representation of women and children. She routinely represented battered women and children free of charge so that those who are least able to pay received the legal representation they deserved. Noel worked extensively in Montgomery County Juvenile Court as an attorney and Guardian ad Litem. She was a founding board member and the first chair of the Dayton Bar Association’s Juvenile Law Committee. Noel was one of the first employees of the Montgomery County Fair Housing Center, the predecessor organization to the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center. She served as the Coordinator of the Fair Housing Center from 1979 until 1981, and again from 1985 until 1989, when the Center was a program of other non-profit organizations. In 1993, Noel was one of the three founding board members of the Miami Valley Fair Housing Center, as it became an independent, full-service fair housing organization, and subsequently served on the board of the Center for two years. She was a board member of the Robert E. Kolze Housing Justice Fund for thirty years, and received a gubernatorial appointment to the Ohio FAIR Plan Underwriting Association from 1986 until 1992. In addition, Noel had a long and distinguished history of volunteerism with local community organizations including: Artemis Center for Alternatives to Domestic Violence, Freedom of Choice Miami Valley, the AIDS Foundation of Dayton, the Dayton Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Muse Machine, the Human Race Theatre Company, the Dayton Playhouse, the Dayton Theatre Guild, and the Dayton Theatre Hall of Fame. Noel had a passion for theatre and the movies. She enjoyed The Neon Movies, traveling, and was a regular at many of Dayton’s festivals including A World A’Fair, Greek Festival, Art in the Park, and the DAI’s Oktoberfest. A celebration of life gathering is to be held at a later date. Noel is to be interred at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington D.C. alongside her husband Lt. Col. Charles Vaughn. Memorial contributions in Noel’s name may be made to Artemis Center for Domestic Violence, Dayton, Ohio or the Human Race Theatre Company of Dayton, Ohio.