Solen J. Vaden

Mr. Solen J. Vaden, age 87, of Warthen died on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, in an Augusta hospital.

Funeral services will be held at 2:00 P.M. on Friday, April 8, in the Union Baptist Church near Warthen with burial in the Union Baptist Church Cemetery. Reverend Robert Cash will officiate.

Pallbearers will be: Chris Peavy, Caleb Vaden, Ryan Vaden, Terry Mullin, Ian Benson, and Randy Vaden.

Mr. Vaden was a native of Monterey, TN, the son of the late J. T. Vaden and the late Velma Smith Vaden. He was a retired machinist. Mr. Vaden was a member of the Ball Road Baptist Church in Knoxville, TN and served as a Deacon in the Baptist Church most of his life.

Solen Vaden was the oldest son of original Homesteaders brought to the Cumberland Plateau during the Great Depression through the efforts of Franklin D. and Eleanor Roosevelt. After marrying, he worked at Y-12 in Oak Ridge, Tennessee for many years, where he machined parts that were later used in the first atomic bombs. When NASA entered the “Space Race” for the moon, Solen made the first six “moon boxes” designed to hold the “rocks” that were brought back to Earth by the astronauts.

His tool maker skills led him to Macon, Georgia during the 1970s, then later he moved to Knoxville, Tennessee where he continued working until retirement in his early 80s. The last six years of his life were spent with his wife of 68 years on a small farm in Warthen, Georgia were he raised beef cattle. Solen regarded as greatest accomplishment the expectation that through the lives of his children the world would be a better place.

Survivors are: his wife, Mary Johnston Vaden of Warthen; a daughter, Thea Angela Vaden Mullin and her husband Terry of Watkinsville; three sons, Chris Vaden and his wife Nan of Warthen, Joel Anthony Vaden and his wife Jackie of Sweet Warter, TN, and Phillip Daryl Vaden and his wife Karen of Strawberry Plains, TN; nine grandchildren, Dr. Traci Vaden, Maura Peavy, Erin Vaden, Ian Benson, Tyler Vaden, Ryan Vaden, Caleb Vaden, Natalie Vaden and Ethan Vaden; and six great grandchildren, Hadley vaden, Maverick Vaden, George Vaden, Henry Vaden, Benjamin Vaden and Savannah Peavy.

The family will receive friends at the Union Baptist Church from 1:00 P.M. on Friday until the hour of service.

The family request that in lieu of flowers donations be made to St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, P. O. Box 1818, Memphis, Tennessee 38101-9903.

May and Smith Funeral Directors in Sandersville is in charge of the arrangements.