Frances Margret McKibben Vaughn
November 24, 1915 – January 3, 2011
Frances Margret McKibben was born in Tisdale Saskatchewan, Canada on November 24, 1915. Frances was blessed with four
families who loved and cherished her. At the age of one she moved to Lancaster, Minnesota where she was raised by her aunt and uncle, Ida and Oscar Gustafson. Frances has two surviving brothers: Allan and Jim Gustafson, 3 sisters in-law, Dorothy, Sylvia and Lou Gustafson; numerous nieces and nephews from this family. She attended grade school in Lancaster, Minnesota, high school in Crookston, Minnesota, and college in Morehead, Minnesota. Frances moved to the West Coast after graduation and settled in Portland, Oregon. She worked for Montgomery Ward for a number of years where she met Henry Mullendore. They were married in 1946 and moved to Bend, Oregon where they managed a movie theatre. This work was followed by purchasing the Auburn Avenue Theatre in Auburn Washington and ultimately building the Valley Drive-In theatres in Kent, Washington. They ran the theatres together until Henry died in 1973. From this marriage Frances gained 3 stepchildren: Marlene, Maury and Gaylord, all deceased. Frances has one surviving stepdaughter-in-law, 11 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, 11 great-great-grandchildren and 3 great-great-great-grandchildren as part of the Mullendore family. Frances and her stepson, Maury Mullendore, ran the theatres until 1979 when Frances sold the theatres. In 1975 Frances met and married Watson Vaughn. Frances gained 2 stepdaughters, Michelle Travis (deceased) and Paulette Beck, one stepson-in-law, Greg Beck, 3 grandchildren (one deceased) and 2 great-grandchildren, numerous bothers and sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews from this marriage. Frances and Watson moved to Meridian Valley Country Club in Kent, Washington after their marriage. Watson was in the masonry restoration business and had offices in Seattle and Spokane Washington, Portland Oregon, Edmonton Alberta, and Vancouver BC, Canada. Frances loved to travel with Watson in his business. She would find all the antique stores and soon acquired a large collection of antique items. On their honeymoon in 1976 they came through the Palm Springs area to see friends and bought a home in Date Palm Country Club, which has been their winter home. Watson sold his business in 1980 and they have spent winters in Cathedral City and summers in the Seattle area. They traveled every year for the last thirty years all in the US and Canada. Frances found a second family of five half-brothers Frank, Jim (deceased), Walter (deceased), Burt, and Les Smith; and one half-sister Faye Freisz in Grand Prairie, Alberta Canada. Surviving Frances are 1 sister, 3 brothers, 3 sisters-in-law, 1 brother-in-law and numerous nieces and nephews from this second family living in Canada. Frances and Watson spent several weeks every year in Western Canada visiting this family. Frances is preceded in death by her parents, 4 stepchildren and 1 stepgrandchild, 5 brothers, 2 sisters-in-law. Frances was a member of Hope Lutheran Church of Palm Desert. Her hobbies were golf, bridge, traveling and dancing. She was very active in all these activities until she started to lose her eye sight to Macular Degeneration. She had to give up golf and bridge due to her lack of sight but still traveled every summer in Canada and the US. She loved her home and friends in Date Palm Country Club. Frances passed away on January 3, 2011 at Eisenhower Hospital. The Family will have a Celebration-of-Life in February at the Date Palm Country Club. She will be dearly missed by her friends and family. Frances will be interned in the National Cemetery in Kent Washington
at Wat’s passing.
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