W. Vaughan Spencer, 87, of Southmont, North Carolina and Key West, Florida, passed away Wednesday evening, July 29th, 2026 at home in the arms of his wife of 27 years, Roberta Webb Spencer. A funeral requiem will be held Saturday, August 22, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. at Grace Episcopal Church in Lexington, NC. The family will receive friends following the service at a reception in the Parish Hall.

Vaughan was born on October 11, 1938 in Anchorage, Kentucky to the late William Vaughan Spencer and Evelyn McGowin Spencer. Vaughan had strong, deep Alabama southern roots due to the influence of his maternal grandparents, uncles and cousins. The McGowin family, early into best practices for land conservation and forestry, owned one of the first steam engine operated lumber mills in Chapman, Alabama. As a young child, Vaughan fell in love with all things “lumber”, exploring the woods, the creeks, and spotting game that traveled the timberlands. With extended family nearby in Mobile and along the gulf, the ocean also became his lifelong wanderlust.

Vaughan attended preparatory school in Lawrenceville, New Jersey and, during his high school years, was a member of the ROTC. He met Judy Burns at Owl Creek Country Club on his holiday break from Yale University. They married in 1959 while he was an undergraduate. Vaughan graduated from Yale University with a bachelor's degree in psychology and a strong mix of mathematics. Following graduation, his daughter Eve was born in Louisville and the family relocated to Mannheim, Germany where he served in the U.S. Army as 2nd Lieutenant, primarily tasked with deciphering code, and was on duty when the Berlin wall was built overnight in 1961. His son Bill was born in Germany.

He returned to Louisville following his tour of duty and joined a brokerage firm at which he’d previously worked a summer job, licensed at age 17 as a municipal bond underwriter. He later joined Stifel Nicolaus & Co, a St. Louis based regional brokerage company specializing in underwriting municipal bonds and refinancing existing bonds, saving municipalities millions in interest costs. Vaughan was named one of the top 20 stockbrokers in America by Registered Representative (the brokers’ trade magazine) and subsequently recruited by George Ball, President of E.F. Hutton. His daughters Vicky and Judy were both born in Louisville during this phase of his career.

He later followed Mr. Ball to Prudential Securities and began investigating stock options in the over-the-counter market (there was no existing listed market at the time) and saw the potential of a conservative strategy now known as covered call option. The only problem was that Vaughan was doing all of the required calculations on one of the first 4 function 110v hand calculators, which was insufficient for the task at hand. So, he went in search of a “mini-computer” and found one, about the size of a large office desk and weighing almost 400 pounds. He programmed the mammoth equipment to dial into the New York Stock Exchange’s analog phone system and compile detailed stock options for his clients’ portfolios. It was a game changer.

Vaughan was also was engaged in numerous civic organizations, including serving on the Board of the Louisville Boat Club. He still loved the land so much he purchased 362 acres in Irvington, Kentucky for hunting and farming. This farm later became his second home. It was a wonderful place to for his children to enjoy and he introduced to them cattails, daylilies, dandelions, vegetable spaghetti, turnip greens, and kale, long before these became trendy dishes. Often described as a “Renaissance Man,”, he also taught his children to waterski, windsurf, shoot, hunt, scuba dive, fish, catch lobsters, play ping-pong, make wine-and oh my-drive! He enjoyed playing backgammon, especially with Vicky, and watching UK basketball. He shared his love of boating with Judy, enabling her to host friends on many river outings. He divorced in 1986.

Vaughan later joined a small specialty firm, Churchill Financial, and began to wind down and “smell the roses”. He obtained his Captain’s license and commissioned the building of a 60’ custom motor yacht, the PUT AND CALL. He piloted his boat from Louisville to the Florida Keys each fall and then back in the spring, later traveling to five different countries during his vacation time away from work. On one of his trips in 1994, he met Roberta Webb Faison while visiting Mike and Janice Murphy on a rest stop at Wrightsville Beach. He delighted in telling the story of seeing her topside reading on her 35 Island Packet sailboat across the waterway. Turns out, Roberta was best friends with Janice. Fate intervened. He was smitten he said, but she refused his offer “to go down the river” with him even for a few days because, “I have a Bill up in the General Assembly on Tuesday. Not gonna happen”. It was four years before she agreed to be his date over a long weekend at the Kentucky Derby where she‘d planned to attend with the Murphys. The rest is history.

While engaged, Vaughan and Roberta trained at his cousin’s FBO in Pensacola, FL. Aviation and earned their their pilot’s licenses. He purchased a Piper Cherokee Six widely known as a “mini-van with wings”. Vaughan loved to tell friends he flew with a briefcase and all of “Berta’s stuff” up and down the eastern half of the US as she was still employed in Raleigh, NC representing the NC Community Action Association. They married in 1999 at the historic Episcopal chapel in Arlie Gardens in Wilmington, N.C., then bought and refurbished a home in Key West where they resided for 25 years. Through his years together with Roberta they traveled to Alaska, the islands of the South Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, South Africa, Kenya, Botswana, Tanzania, the Okavango Delta, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe. Because his family expanded, he was able to mentor more loved ones, teaching them to fish, free dive, navigate the waters of the Keys and hunt the woodlands of his farm in Kentucky. Cole Langlois said long ago “all my firsts have been with Grandpa Vaughan-my biggest fish, my bag lobster limits, my first buck and my love of finance” and Owen Langlois, “the best days of my whole life were with Grandpa Vaughan and Grandma Berta in the Keys.” He so enjoyed being a mentor to family and friends and he’ll be greatly missed.

He founded the W. Vaughan Spencer Foundation, which annually provides grants to non-profit entities that better the lives of children, families and handicapped individuals, as well as facilitate research to cure cancer and Alzheimer’s. Due to medical needs he moved to the Lexington, N.C. area near Roberta’s family in 2023. Vaughan finally retired from the brokerage business after 68 years on January 1, 2024 at the age of 85.

He is survived by his wife Roberta Webb Spencer and his children from his previous marriage with the late Judy Burns Spencer, Eve Spencer and her sons Ben Thornberry and Gavin Clark, Bill Spencer and his son Liam Spencer, Vicky Spencer Rouse and her daughter Aerial Spencer and Judy Spencer (Scott Knowles) and her daughter Lizzy Blade (George Chestnut) and stepsons Matt Knowles and Calvin Knowles. Additionally, two stepdaughters Stacy Ogburn (Kevin) and Christina Mayse (Andrew) and their daughters Taylor and Madison, stepson Bill Faison and his daughter Nora and her brothers, Cole Langlois and Owen Langlois, bonus son Tom Secore and bonus daughter Jennifer Herrington.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the W. Vaughan Spencer Foundation, P.O. Box 470, Southmont, NC 27351 or Grace Church Irrevocable Trust Fund, 419 S Main St, Lexington, NC 27292.

Vaughan’s children are hosting a reception to celebrate his life on Sunday, August 30th from 1-4 PM at Captain’s Quarters Riverside Grille, 5700 Captains Quarters Road in Prospect, Kentucky.

A Celebration of Life and Stone Dedication will be held Sunday, November 22nd at the farm, 1379 Edgar Basham Lane, Irvington, Kentucky from 3:30-7:30 PM.