Michael Vaught, 70, died of a heart attack on January 6, 2016 in Norman Regional Hospital. Father Vaught, born on July 29, 1945, in Boise, Idaho, the oldest of J.D. and Dorothy Vaught’s four children, was raised in Norman, Okla.

He spent his first two years of college at Saint Francis de Sales Seminary in Oklahoma City, his third year at Cardinal Glennon Seminary in St. Louis and his fourth year at St. Louis University. He completed his theological studies in Belgium at the American University of Louvain. Father Vaught was ordained at Saint Joseph Church in Norman on August 17, 1973. Since his ordination, his “ministry and concern for the poor carried him to assignments throughout our archdiocese and around the world,” according to Archbishop Paul S. Coakley.

Father Vaught’s first parish was Saint Francis Xavier, Enid, followed by Saint Joseph, Norman, Saint Peter, Woodward, Saint Patrick, Anadarko, several years in Isanlu, Nigeria, Africa, Saint Mary, Clinton, Saint Catherine, Pauls Valley and finishing his active priesthood at Our Lady of Victory Church in Purcell where he retired in 2013. Father Vaught often said, “I like serving the smaller parishes.”

Father Vaught is predeceased by his parents and survived by his sister Debbie Vaught and brothers: Patrick and wife Patricia Vaught, James and wife Martha Vaught, 3 nieces, 4 nephews, 3 great nieces, and 4.5 great nephews.

A Prayer Vigil will be held at 3:00 PM on Sunday January 11, 2016 at Havenbrook Funeral Home, 3401 Havenbrook Street Norman, OK. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at Saint Joseph Catholic Church, 421 East Acres Street, Norman on Monday, January 11, 2016 at 10:30 a.m. with interment at Saint Joseph Cemetery.