From: grahameb@aol.com (Graham Berry) Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology Subject: ROBERT VAUGHN YOUNG. DEATH OF A HERO. Date: 15 Jun 2003 20:28:59 -0700 Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Lines: 108 Message-ID: <797f716c.0306151928.493e5238@posting.google.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 203.96.111.237 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Trace: posting.google.com 1055734140 8844 127.0.0.1 (16 Jun 2003 03:29:00 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: 16 Jun 2003 03:29:00 GMT Robert Vaughn Young It is with great sadness that I have learned of the death of Robert Vaughn Young. He died early Sunday afternoon June 15, 2003 after a long illness. His son had just been visiting with him and his beloved companion Caren was at his side. I am told he was resting peacefully and comfortably when he passed on. Vaughn was one of the most wonderful people that I have had the honor to know. He had a master's degree in Philosophy and was teaching at University of California Davis when he became involved with Scientology in the early 1970s. He became one of Scientology's highest ranking public relations officers and he was one of L. Ron Hubbard's archivists. He has described his Scientology experiences on many occasions. There are his own writings, his own testimony and those who have written about him. To access some of this writing and testimony search his name on Google groups. http://groups.google.co.nz/groups?q=robert+vaughn+young&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search In the late 1980s Vaughn "escaped" from Scientology with his then wife Stacy Brooks. He was one of the highest level executives to have ever defected from the church. In 1993 Vaughn and Stacy agreed to testify as expert witnesses in litigation then being handled by Dan Leipold, Esq. and myself. The rest of that story is also history. http://groups.google.co.nz/groups?q=robert+vaughn+young&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sa=G&scoring=d More recently Robert has been involved with pioneering a website resource and community group for men diagnosed with prostate cancer. His wonderful work and that legacy can be viewed at: http://www.phoenix5.org/ Robert Vaughn Young made a major contribution to Hubbard's Church, at least until he learned the truth about L. Ron Hubbard and his past. Robert revealed much of this truth after he escaped from the cult. He leaves behind a mountain of knowledge about the dark side of Scientology and its sordid history. I feel honored and privileged to have been a friend of Vaughn. He was a man of courage to his very last breath. In my experience, he was a person of the highest integrity and honesty, and in every thing he did and said. He was highly intelligent, charming, articulate, literate and loyal. I shall miss and mourn him. He was one of the best. A true hero to me and to many. FINAL WORD By Henry David Thoreau. Why should we be in such haste to succeed, and in such desperate enterprises? If a man does not keep pace with his companions, Perhaps because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music he hears, However measured or far away. DEATH IS NOTHING By Henry Scott Holland. Death is nothing at all: I have just slipped away into the next room. I am I, and you are you. Whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by my old familiar name; Speak to me in the easy way you always used. Put no difference in your tone; Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as you always laughed, At little jokes we shared together. Play, smile, think of me. Let my name be the household name it always was. Let it be spoken without an effort, Without the ghost of a shadow upon it. Life means all that it ever meant: It is the same as it ever was; There is absolutely unbroken continuity. What is death but a passage of life? Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am but waiting for you, For an interval, Somewhere very near, Just around the corner, All is well. THE BRAVE By G. K. Chesterton Is there not pardon for the brave And broad releases above Who lost their heads for liberty Or lost their hearts for love? Or is the wise man wise indeed Whom larger thoughts keep whole, Who sees life equal like a chart, Makes strong to play the saner part, And keeps his head and keeps his heart And only loses his soul? Respectfully, Graham E. Berry