Donald E. Claxton (’55), Austin :: He served in the U.S. Navy before graduating from North Texas and later attended SMU law school. He worked in the insurance field for many years, including 25 years with Hartford Insurance Co. His daughter Rita Claxton Stringer (’84) also is a graduate of UNT.

David Joseph Ballauer (’65,’66 M.Ed.), Azle :: He played football at North Texas and was a discus thrower and shotputter in track. He had a long career as a math teacher and football and track coach at area high schools, including Azle, Boswell, Keller and Justin Northwest. He also served briefly at Graham and Gatesville. He retired from education in 1995, enjoying a life of gardening, woodworking and watching football games.

Bishop Sarah Frances Davis (’70), Houston :: The third woman to be elected a bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, she was the vice president of the World Methodist Council and the presiding prelate of the 16th Episcopal District, which includes churches and schools in South America, the Caribbean and Europe. As a result of her leadership, a day of prayer in African Methodism is now an annual observance. Her first assignment was to the 18th Episcopal District, including Southern African countries, where she was an advocate of the power of education and a champion for orphaned children. She most recently was focused on rebuilding orphanages and churches in Haiti. She was the first woman in Texas to be appointed to a major A.M.E. church when she served for seven years as the pastor of the Bethel A.M.E. Church in San Antonio.

Stephen L. Haslund (’70, ’73 M.Ed., ’78 Ph.D.), Friendswood :: He studied music education and earned his doctorate in college and university teaching. He joined the Texas Chiropractic College as dean of student services in 1994 and served as vice president of student affairs and vice president for administrative affairs before retiring.

Thomas C. Moroney (’88), Plano :: He earned his degree in psychology and minored in biology, chemistry and French. His family says he loved his time at North Texas and living in Clark Hall, where he met his best friends — Roger Bray and Dennis Franks, his future brother-in-law.

Brian Dorroh (’91), Dallas :: He grew up in Littleton, Colo., and graduated from Columbine High School in 1986. After earning his degree in radio/television/film and photography from UNT, he earned a degree in photography and multimedia from the Art Institute of Dallas. He lived and worked in the Dallas area, most recently at SourceHOV as a VMWare specialist.

Staff Sgt. Alex Viola (’06), Keller :: He was a graduate of the College of Engineering who was stationed in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, on his first deployment. He joined the Army National Guard as an engineer sergeant in 2009. His last assignment was with the 7th Special Forces Group (Airborne) out of Eglin Air Force Base in Florida. Among his medals and badges were the Army Achievement Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Army Good Conduct Medal, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal, the Parachutist Badge, the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Special Operations Dive Badge and the Special Forces Tab.

Baffour Boahen (’13), Denton :: He was a senior studying psychology and was awarded his degree posthumously in December. He also was a student employee at UNT’s Kristin Farmer Autism Center.

Jose R. Cruz Jr., Watauga :: He retired from Ford Motor Credit and was working on his master’s degree in counseling at UNT.

Mary Elizabeth Evans (’39, ’50 M.S., ’54 Ed.D.), 94, Professor Emeritus of human resource management, died Jan. 17 in Denton. She was the first woman to earn a doctoral degree from UNT and later served as dean of the School of Home Economics, retiring after 30 years of service in education.

She earned her graduate degrees while working full-time as a teacher at Wylie High School. She also had five sisters who were alumni — their combined North Texas degree total reached 12 when she earned her doctorate in secondary education.

She joined the home economics faculty in 1958 and was named dean in 1969. Home economics later became human resource management, the precursor to today's College of Merchandising, Hospitality and Tourism. She was a nutrition expert who had articles published in the Journal of Home Economics and U.S. News & World Report. In the early 1960s, she served as chair of the State Board of Examiners for Teacher Education.

She was known for the desserts she baked for faculty, staff and other friends. She once made an 85-pound cake in the shape of the Capitol Building for a U.S. congressman’s visit to campus.