700 Miles Away, One Man Saved Our History

Far, far away from West Valley City—hundreds of miles away—one man quietly changed the course of our local history. Vaughn, a true 1960s California guy, lived a life shaped by sun, surf, and the easy rhythm of the beach. Surfing, sand, and the simple joys of California living filled his days. West Valley City, Utah, was not on his radar… until one ordinary moment changed everything.

One day, Vaughn got ahold of a box of old slides and photographs. At first glance, they were just images—faces, buildings, moments frozen in time. But something told him they mattered. And they did. Those photos captured people, schools, football games, cheerleaders, churches being built, community gatherings, Boy Scouts, Pinewood Derbies, families, and everyday life in Granger and Hunter.

Vaughn realized these weren’t just pictures—they were history.

Though he lived roughly 700 miles away , he understood their value to a place far from his own.

So he acted. Vaughn invested in a high-powered slide scanner and went to work—hour after hour, day after day. Weeks turned into months as he carefully preserved each image, knowing someone, somewhere, would need them.

When the scans were complete, he searched for the right home for them and discovered what many didn’t even realize: West Valley City, Utah’s second-largest city, lacked a museum.

T hese images were needed. They mattered. They belonged to the people who lived them.

That search led him to our Facebook Histories that we share and then Sheri—our historian, our history gatherer. Through that connection, slides once tucked away in a California box were returned to the community they came from.

Faces were recognized.

Memories were stirred.

Families saw themselves again.

Vaughn may have lived far away, but his vision, care, and generosity bridged the distance. Because one person noticed, valued, and acted, an entire community regained pieces of its past.