BY JASON COHEN
At just 8 years old Soundview resident
Javon Cabarrus lost his mother
and was adopted by his grandmother
Linda Vaughn. Sadly, she passed away
Jan. 14 at the age of 63.
Cabarrus, 26, a veteran of the Marines,
is devastated. For more than two
decades Vaughn was his mom, dad and
everything.
Vaughn lived in the Bronx for more
than 40 years and made Cabarrus the
man he is today.
“She is all I had left in this world,”
Cabarrus explained. “She would always
put me fi rst. Even when it came
to this Christmas, she saved what she
could to give it to me, instead of putting
it on her rent.”
Life has not been easy for Cabarrus.
In the early 90s his dad, Sebastian
Cabarrus left and in 2003, his mom
Lucinda Ware died. His grandfather
Luther Ware is in jail, but Vaughn remarried
after her daughter died. Unfortunately,
her husband Larry Walton
also passed in 2007 from cancer.
So, in a four year span Vaughn lost
her daughter and spouse.
Vaughn raised her grandson in
Morrisania and always made sure he
stayed out of trouble and focused on
school. The two of them were close and
Cabarrus told the Bronx Times her age
difference never bothered him.
“She was a strong woman,” he explained.
“She buried her family. She always
had a smile that lit up the room.”
It was quite hard for Cabarrus to
talk about the departed in the past
tense. He recalled how he even though
he could not dance, she would put on
the Temptations and spin him around
like they were at the disco.
Vaughn worked as a home health
aide for many years, yet always found
time for her grandson/adoptive son.
She loved going to church, taught him
how to cook and clean and bought him
clothes and basketball tickets even if
she could barely afford it.
In his eyes, she was “super
woman.”
“If you were to meet her you wouldn’t
have thought any of these things happened,”
he explained. “She would never
tell me she was struggling.”
Vaughn cared about her community.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, F 32 EBRUARY 5-11, 2021 BTR
She was a poll worker since the
80s, volunteered and would always give
her last dollar to someone else.
“She was just a loving person,” he
said. “There’s not much bad I can say
about her. She was a great woman. She
never let anyone hold her back. I know
she had dreams, but she sacrifi ced that
to take care of me.”
According to Cabarrus, his
grandma wanted him to go to college,
but in high school he met a recruiter
and joined the Marines at 17.
When he came home he stayed with
Vaughn from 2016 to 2018 as he dealt
with anxiety and mental health issues
after a few of his friends died during
his time in the service.
Even when he moved out and began
to work at a law fi rm he always stayed
close with his grandmother. They
talked and spent time together.
However, when the pandemic hit
he lost his job and things got tough. He
saw her for Christmas and as much as
he could throughout the last year, but
in the fi rst week of January, Vaughn
told him she was going to the hospital
for chemotherapy for ovarian cancer.
He was shocked.
“She said don’t worry about me,
God got me,” he recalled. “She hid it
from me because she wanted to enjoy
the holidays.”
While she had planned to undergo
15 days of chemo, her body didn’t last.
Cabarrus discovered Vaughn got the
cancer diagnose last summer, yet kept
it to herself.
Still distraught, he is hoping to get
fi nancial assistance to fund her funeral
and is asking the community for
help.
“Please help me take care of her one
last time and send her home to God the
right way,” Cabarrus said.
Bronx veteran deals with
the loss of his mother
and grandmother
Jordan Cabarrus with his grandmother Linda Vaughn who raised him.
Photos courtesy of Jordan Cabarrus
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THE CITY CLERK
OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK
NOTICE OF SPECIAL ELECTION
O
Pursuant to provisions o
of Section 25(b)(1) of the Charter of the City of New
York York, notice notice is is here
hereby given that a special election will be held in the
Borough of Bronx, County of Bronx, on Tuesday, March 23, 2021,
between the hours of 6:00 AM and 9:00 PM for the purpose of electing a
candidate for the 15th Councilmanic District. Only registered voters in this
district are eligible to vote.
For any information on whether you are eligible to vote or where your poll
site is located, please call (212) V-O-T-E-N-Y-C. TDD for the hearingimpaired
is (212) 487-5496.
The City Clerk of the City of New York