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Albert Einstein likened life to riding a bicycle. “To keep your balance, you must keep moving,” he wrote.

Angie Vaughn knew heartache, but she also experienced joy. She never let the hard places slow her down or keep her from moving toward her goal. Angie kept moving right up to the last week of her life. Angie, who was born Angela Kay Jones, died April 4 after a brief illness.

She left behind two daughters — Erica Hall and Jennifer Walker — and triplet grandsons, Bentley, Elijah and Levi Hall, as well as her parents, Martha and Terry Crain, and a brother, Dean Jones.

Angie, by trade, was a barber, a profession she had worked at for over 30 years. She had many customers, some young and some old, and week after week they waited in line at Tyler’s Barbershop for their haircut.

It was there in her barber’s chair stories were shared and memories were made.

Some of her most faithful customers were local law enforcement officers. “She knew her stuff. Many were longtime customers. Mom was very easygoing. She didn’t get upset often,” said daughter Erica. She often said: “It’s not for me to sort out or fix people’s problems. Let God do that.”

Angie’s greatest love was the Lord, and she loved to sing about Jesus. She was a member of the choir at First Free Will Baptist Church, where she was a faithful member and seldom missed a service. She was also a member of the ROSE Ministry at the church.

Next to her church and the Lord, her family had a fixed place in her heart. “She loved her grandsons, and you would always find her at their soccer and basketball games. When they were babies, she would take her day off babysitting them,” Angie shared.

In church, the triplets often switched back and forth between their grandma and great-grandma, Martha Crain. “They not only loved their grandma, but their great-grandma, who they often spend Friday night with,” said Erica.

Angie had a sweet spirit that endeared herself to others.

“Mom liked to cook. Sunday was family time, and we often ate together as a family. She could cook anything, but she especially liked to try new desserts. She made banana pudding a lot for Sunday dessert — it was the boys’ favorite,” shared Erica.

“She and her mom did a lot of things together. They enjoyed spending time together and going shopping. They could make a fun trip out of going to Sam’s,” said Erica. “She also enjoyed taking the boys for ice cream or to the park.”

A lifelong thing with Angie was a summer trip to the beach. She had been going to the beach since she was a little girl. “Another thing she enjoyed was Covered Bridge Days and the weekly concerts at the Covered Bridge Park. Music was her go-to thing,” Erica shared.

“Mom enjoyed music, and she enjoyed people. To her, church, the barbershop and Sunday dinner were more than just places to go — it was where the people she loved could be found and enjoyed. They were places filled with laughter, love, and there was a sense of belonging,” Erica said.

“Mom was a people person, and she enjoyed being with people. But by far, she loved her Lord more than anything. That’s who she enjoyed singing about,” Erica shared as her voice cracked with emotion. “She loved us, and we loved her. She made us proud.”

Today, Angie is with Jesus, the one she so often sang about in church. She would be the first to tell you that we must be willing to let go of the people and things on this earth to have the life that is waiting for us just beyond the sun and stars.

Angie was laid to rest at Happy Valley Memorial Park, but she’s really singing with the angels in Heaven.