Beulah L. Vaughn

Beulah Louise “Boots” (Logan) Vaughn, 78, of Indianapolis, passed away peacefully Sept. 19, 2026, at Franciscan Health in Indianapolis, surrounded by the people she loved most.

And Boots loved a lot of people.

She never knew a stranger. She spent decades as a cashier at Bud’s Supermarket in Fountain Square, where her line was usually backed up because everybody wanted to go through hers — and because she wanted to talk to everybody who did. Earlier in life, she worked at Edwin Ray United Methodist Church’s childcare ministry at the corner of Laurel Street and Woodlawn Avenue, also in Fountain Square, where she cared for neighborhood children and collected stories about them she was still telling decades later.

Boots loved to tell stories — sometimes the same ones over and over. But she never lost her enthusiasm for them, so neither did we.

She lived her entire life on the southside of Indianapolis and found most of her joy in the simple things. Her favorite color was red. Her favorite food was fried chicken. She loved biscuits and gravy, cantaloupe, zucchini bread, candied pecans and secret trips to Dairy Queen for chocolate soft serve. She loved country music — especially Conway Twitty, who was, as everyone knew, “her man.”

She loved romance novels, too, and could get so wrapped up in one she'd suddenly look at the clock and realize it was 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning. She loved dogs and spoiled every one she ever had. She loved the Smoky Mountains and trips to Gatlinburg. And she loved telling the story of her trip to Mississippi with her sisters as a teenager, where she saw the ocean and walked on a beach for the first and only time.

But more than anything, Boots loved her family.

She always said the best years of her life were when her grandchildren were babies. She kept the Vaughn name for her boys — her son, Freddy, and grandsons James, Robert “Bobby” and Brandon — and wore it proudly.

She loved bear hugs. She would scrunch her nose and wink at us from across the room. She checked on her “fur-grandbabies.” She made sure the people who married into the family knew there was no “in-law” qualifier where she was concerned: they were hers, too. And she had a way of making everyone feel like maybe — just maybe — they were her favorite.

Toward the end of her life, Boots loved passing out “little Jesuses.” She kept her own tucked inside her glasses case with a wooden cross from her sister, Sharon. Once, she forgot a

little Jesus in her shirt pocket during an X-ray. There he was on the scan. She thought that was about the greatest thing in the world.

Boots was surrounded by family when she took her last breath. She spent her whole life making sure the people she loved never felt alone. In the end, we got to return the favor.

She is survived by her son Fred (Christina) Vaughn Jr. and his father Fred Vaughn Sr.; grandchildren James (Tyler) Archer, Robert (Katie) Vaughn, Brandon Vaughn and Tiffany (Jonathan) Lane; great-grand daughters Ryleigh, Kingsleigh, Lennox and Aly; sisters Sharon (Charlie) Woods and Joyce Russell; nieces Shannon Graham and Melissa Holland; nephews Don Justice and John Paul Russell Jr.; great-nieces and nephews, including Erin Harris and Bianca Bouffard who were by her side at the very end; and so many friends and neighbors. She was preceded in death by her parents Betty (Abbott) and Cecil Logan; sisters Peggy Justice and Wanda Edwards; great-grand daughter Oakleigh; niece Lisa; nephew Tommy; and great-niece Amanda.

There are a million little things we'll miss: Her laugh. Her smile. Her stories. The cards and messages. Her asking for “the best bear hugs.”

But most of all, we'll miss the way she loved.

If you told Boots, “I love you,” she'd tell you she loved you more. If you insisted, she'd eventually pull out the argument nobody could beat: “I loved you before you were born.”

She did.

And we'll love her long after she's gone.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Beulah L. Vaughn, please visit our floral store.