Conan Wallace Vaughan, Jr., was born on April 23, 1906, in Norfolk, Virginia. After graduating in 1923 from Maury High School in Norfolk he attended Virginia Polytechnic Institute, earning his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree in 1927, and a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1928. As a member of the local YMCA advisory council during the 1927-28 school year Vaughan was instrumental in inviting George Washington Carver (1861-1943), agricultural chemist and educator of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, to speak at Virginia Tech in April 1928. The two men corresponded often following Carver's visit, and Vaughan visited Carver at Tuskegee that summer.

Vaughan left Virginia Tech in 1928 to work as District Traffic Manager for the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company in Richmond and Roanoke until 1941. He later worked for the company in Norfolk and Richmond from 1946 until his retirement in 1971. He married Elizabeth Leary Tyler in 1935; they had no children.

Beginning in September 1941 Vaughan served as Unit Commander of the 1128th Engineer Combat Battalion in the European theatre, mostly in Iceland, during World War II. By the end of the war he rose from the rank of Captain to that of Colonel. He received the Bronze Star for meritorious service when his unit was instrumental in the Battle of the Bulge and during the Rhineland invasion preceding V.E. Day.

After the war Vaughan was active in the U.S. Army Reserve and from 1951 to 1959 he served as assistant Commandant and then Commandant of the 2086th Army Reserve Service Unit (Norfolk, Virginia, USAR School). Vaughan received the Army Commendation Medal in 1959. He also served as President of the South Hampton Roads chapter of the Association of the U. S. Army.

Elizabeth Vaughan died in 1988, and Conan W. Vaughan, Jr., died on January 24, 1990. The Vaughans left $2.6 million of their estate to the Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine, which is the largest endowment gift in the college's history and one of the largest ever received by Virginia Tech.