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1920s [ top ]

• Alice Rigg Sizemore ('25), San Angelo. When she was 18 she became the principal of a two-room school. She earned a teacher's certificate at North Texas and taught for one year before getting married. She and her husband are credited with starting the first couples Sunday school class in a Southern Baptist church in their church in Oklahoma City during World War II.

1930s [ top ]

• Mary Jo Galbraith ('36, '68 M.A.), Elgin. She moved to Denton in the early 1930s. After earning her degrees, she taught English and worked as a school guidance counselor.
• Elmer Arthur Brown ('38, '42 M.S.), Dallas. Elmer and his identical twin brother, Delmer ('39), who died in 2003, were high school track stars before winning competitions at North Texas. They were on the team that set a world record in the medley relay at the Madison Square Garden Games in 1938 and were scheduled to go to the 1940 Olympic Games before they were canceled due to World War II. Elmer, athletic trainer for Texas Christian University from 1951 to 1977, developed the fitted mouthpiece and other safety devices used in contact sports. He served as director of the National Trainers Association and was inducted into the Helms Athletic Foundation Athletic Trainers Hall of Fame in 1970. He worked with the Oil Bowl in Wichita Falls for 25 years and was head trainer for the 1956 summer Olympic team. In the '70s, he lectured for the U.S. Air Force at bases throughout Europe. He also helped develop the Taiwanese sports medicine program. He was inducted into the UNT Athletic Hall of Fame in 1985.
• Gretna Zoe Weeks Gibbs ('39), El Paso. She earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education from North Texas.

1940s [ top ]

• Leon Vineyard ('40), Terrell. He served in the Army National Guard. He was the head football coach for Terrell High School from 1948 to 1968, winning the Class 2A state championship in 1952 and 1957. He taught at Terrell until 1983.
• Martha Kirkpatrick Hawkins ('41), McAllen. She served 37 years as a secondary school teacher in numerous Texas schools and was chair of the history department at McAllen High School for 10 years. She was a charter member of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society's Epsilon Upsilon chapter in Starr and western Hidalgo counties.
• John H. Reagan ('41), Troup. He earned his degree from North Texas in health education and was a teacher and coach.
• Marguerite Marsh Buckley ('43), Pasadena. She retired from the Houston ISD after teaching for 38 years. At North Texas she earned her bachelor's degree in home economics.
• William Thomas Light Sr. ('44), Bryan. After serving in the Merchant Marines during World War II, he worked at a Port Arthur car dealership and then ran his own dealership in Bryan for 27 years. While at North Texas he worked as a radio announcer for KDNT.
• Wilma Jean Loggins Bayless ('45), Denton. She was employed by Moore Business Forms and Sears Roebuck and later by the College Inn at North Texas.
• Varina LeBeau Nelson ('45, '75 M.S.), Weatherford. She was on the Weatherford City Council for five years. She served as mayor pro tem for two years and as chair of the board of the Weatherford Chamber
  of Commerce in 1982, the first and only woman to serve in that position.
• Bettye J. Cowart Dyche ('46), Hideaway. She was a retired elementary consultant and reading teacher. While at North Texas she assisted Alex Dickie in the operation of the registrar's office.
• Phoebe Charlotte Whatley Tyson ('46, '51 M.A.), Austin. She won many prizes for her watercolor works on paper, and her paintings may be found in numerous private and corporate collections.
• Harold Brenholtz ('47), Ada, Okla. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II as a B-29 flight engineer. He taught industrial arts at East Central University from 1953 until he retired in 1986.
• James N. Lewis ('47, '64 M.S.), Tyler. He was a teacher at Tyler Junior College for many years. He earned his North Texas degrees in political science.
• Sam P. Barnes ('48, '50 M.Ed.), Whitesboro. During World War II, he served with the 549th Night Fighter Squadron of the Army Air Corps in Iwo Jima. He was a teacher and coach for several North Texas school districts and was superintendent in Anna and Lazbuddie schools. He retired in 1983.
• Edwin T. Fulkerson ('49), Victoria. He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the U.S. Army, and was an Eagle Scout and active in the Boy Scouts. He retired as a physical therapist for Citizens Medical Center with 40 years of service.
• William L. 'Bill' Lee ('49), Dallas. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps before coming to North Texas and earned his degree in management.
• Leslie Doyle 'Les' Murphy ('49), Dallas. He was hired by Continental-Emsco in 1951 and worked in its Dallas, Houston, Shreveport and Los Angeles offices before retiring in 1986.
• John Milton Nunn ('49), Bonham. He worked for U.S. Borax for 10 years and then for Union Carbide Corp. for 25 years as railroad coordinator, retiring in 1986.

1950s [ top ]

• A.V. Collins ('50), Plano. He served in the U.S. Navy in the South Pacific during World War II and then attended North Texas on a football scholarship. He was named All-Gulf Coast Conference and was offered pro contracts with the Cleveland Browns and the Pittsburgh Steelers. In the early '50s he coached the Grapevine Mustangs football and basketball teams to district championships and the baseball team to a regional championship. He worked for Boise Cascade Paper Co. and Alto Papers, retiring in 1993.
• Ruby June Vance Gersch ('50), Panhandle. She was a pilot and a member of the Garden Club and the 99ers Club. Her North Texas degree was in home economics.
• John M. Gordon ('50), Meadowlakes. He served in the U.S. Army in Japan after World War II, then returned to North Texas to complete his degree. He worked his way up to national merchandising manager at Western Auto Supply Co. and then owned and operated Countryside Golf Course in Pittsburg before his retirement in 1990.
• Howard G. Barnes ('51), Irving. He worked with LTV and Texas Instruments for more than 35 years and was a member of the Dallas Model A Club.
• Ruth Hazel Keebler Barrow ('52, '55 M.Ed.), Ponder. She owned Vogue Babyland and Gift Shop, and she taught first grade for more than 20 years, retiring from the Fort Worth ISD.
• Chalmers Burke ('52, '53 M.Ed.), Van. He served in Europe during World War II. He was employed with Midland ISD as a teacher and administrator and also worked as a pharmaceutical representative, a Farm Bureau agency manager and an insurance agent.
• Kenneth Marie Pybas Clifton ('52), Chandler, Ariz. She taught intermediate school and high school home economics in Bulcher and served 20 years as a teacher in Wichita Falls.
• Letty Jo Martin Dial ('52, '52 M.Ed.), Irving. She taught first grade in Wichita Falls for 13 years and then moved to Irving, where she taught for 17 years. She was the first female administrator at Bowie Junior High School, serving as assistant principal and dean of girls, and was the first vice principal of Stephen F. Austin Junior High School.
• Marvin Kinsey ('52), Lewisville. He joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served in the Korean War. He was a member of the DFW Retired Officers Association and a past president of the DFW Reserve Officers Association. He owned and operated a veterinary pharmaceutical distributorship.
• Delmar Harrell Watkins ('53), Dallas. He was in the U.S. Air Force from 1948 to 1951, based in Alaska. He was a rancher, an oil and gas developer, and the owner of numerous Gibsons Discount Centers and Handy Hammer Building Supply Center. He had worked in commercial real estate as president of Sandra Corp. since 1962.
• Air Force Col. James W. Lewis ('54), Marshall. He was in the first class of the Air Force ROTC program on campus and served as a pilot in Vietnam. He and his navigator disappeared on a bombing run over Xiangkhoang Province in Laos in 1965. In 1997 witnesses led investigators to the crash site, and subsequent excavations uncovered the remains of the two men, identified by DNA this summer.
• Thomas R. Thorp ('54, '55 M.S.), Wichita, Kan. He had a private practice as a clinical psychologist for 41 years before retiring in 1993. He enjoyed sailing and camping throughout the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada.
• Charles R. Taliaferro ('55), Denton. He served in the 101st Airborne during World War II and was
  a reporter for the Screaming Eagle. After the war he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in England. After graduating from North Texas he began a long teaching career and sold textbooks for many years.
• Walter B. Herring ('55), Amarillo. He served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. He was an auditor for the Internal Revenue Service in the Dallas and
  Amarillo offices.
• Gladys Isabel Gibbons Robinson Harding ('56), Denton. She was a retired teacher of special education and a homemaker. Her North Texas degree was in elementary education.
• Marion Joan Norton Hodge ('57), Irving. She was a homemaker and, with her husband, Art, a member of the UNT President's Council.
• Katherine Beatrice McCollum Myers ('57, '75 M.S.), Gainesville. She graduated from Gainesville High School in 1942 and recently attended her 62nd reunion. She taught from 1957 to 1987 at McMurray Elementary School. In her 30 years of teaching, she never missed a PTA meeting.
• Isaac A. 'Ike' Savage ('58, '63 M.S.), Keller. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1950 to 1954 and was employed for 25 years by the Keller ISD as a math and history teacher, counselor, principal and transportation director. He was active in the Keller Lions Club.
• Ottie Marie Cox Kilpatrick ('59), Canyon Lake. She was a teacher in the Pasadena ISD before retiring. Her bachelor's degree from North Texas was in elementary education.
• James Earl Watson ('59), Houston. He retired from Patrick Henry Junior High School after teaching metal shop, drafting and math in the Houston ISD for 30 years. While at North Texas he was president of his fraternity, Delta Sigma Phi.

1960s [ top ]

• Hilde Spell Fortenberry ('60, '66 M.Ed.), Fort Worth. She owned the Collectibles Antique Store and taught first grade for 26 years in Saint Jo.
• Lindell Vinson ('61), Denton. After graduating from North Texas, "Vince" joined the U.S. Navy, where he served as a pilot on the U.S.S. Bennington. In 1966, he began working for Braniff International Airways, then Piedmont Airlines. He retired as a captain from U.S. Airways in 1998 and restored classic cars.
• Olivia Salas Morris ('62), Dallas. She taught Spanish in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD for 12 years. She was a foster mother for 30 years, providing a home for 26 children during that time.
• Harry C. Wayne ('62, '64 M.M.), San Marcos. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, then attended the Juilliard Music School in New York and was a baritone in the Lemonade Opera before coming to North Texas. He was a music professor for 33 years at what is now Texas State University.
• James E. Chaney ('63), Fredericksburg. He earned his degree in history from North Texas.
• James W. McDaniel ('64), Monahans. He was a cattle rancher for 40 years, owning and operating the Lazy R Ranch. He graduated with a B.B.A. from North Texas.
• Joe Fellman ('65), Dallas. After a career in business, he taught the Hebrew language through his association with Congregation Shearith Israel for more than 30 years.
• Shirley A. Hand ('66), Dallas. She was a teacher for 30 years, specializing in elementary education and English as a second language.
• Michael S. Pearcy ('67), Shawnee, Kan. He served in the U.S. Air Force, which took him to North Dakota, New York, Hawaii and the Asian Pacific. He then took up a career in personnel, worked on his golf swing and rooted for the Dallas Cowboys.
• David Breeden ('68), Belmont, Calif. He was in the U.S. Navy Band and in 1972 joined the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, for which he was the principal clarinetist for 25 years. He taught at Stanford University and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. His father is Leon Breeden, UNT Professor Emeritus of music.
• Elizabeth F. Betty Benson ('69), Keller. A Keller resident for 52 years, she worked as a librarian for the Fort Worth Public Library until 1976. She loved to travel and enjoyed knitting, reading, music and puzzles.

1970s [ top ]

• Laura Brown ('70, '73 M.S.), Henderson. She was a high school librarian for 30 years with the Fort Worth ISD and worked at the Tarrant County College Northeast Campus Library and the library at First United Methodist Church of Fort Worth. As a world traveler — visiting all seven continents — she sailed boats, rode camels, drove dune buggies and went on safaris.
• Billie Lynne Owens Lowe ('70, '84 Ph.D.), Denton. She married Gale Burk Lowe in Nacogdoches in 1955, and they celebrated their golden anniversary earlier this year. She earned her degrees from North Texas in history.
• Harold C. 'Skip' Dimon ('71), Austin. He enrolled underprivileged children in the original Head Start program, served as a house parent for children with mental disabilities, was a half-way house counselor for recently released prisoners, taught elementary and middle school children and worked as an adult probation officer. Burleson County named Aug. 1, 2004, Harold C. 'Skip' Dimon Day in his honor.
• David A. Metcalf ('71), Myerstown, Pa. He served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and taught for 28 years at the Lower Merion School District near Philadelphia.
• Warren Carl Norwood ('72), Weatherford. The author of several science fiction and fantasy novels, he taught writing at Weatherford College and Tarrant County College. He was a member of the Lone Star State Dulcimer Society and an Army veteran of the 173rd Airborne Brigade serving in Vietnam.
• Bruce W. Benson Jr. (73), Richardson. He worked in healthcare administration and was an accomplished blues and jazz guitarist, performing for more than 30 years throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
• Rosa A. Cozby ('75), Princeton. She taught elementary school for 34 years in New Mexico and Texas and was a keyboardist for more than 50 years at the Church of the Nazarene.
• Johnnie R. Campbell ('76 M.S.), Paradise. He taught math and science at Paradise High School for 16 years and then served as principal for 16 years. He also taught math at Haltom Middle School for 13 years.
• Nathan Joe Barron ('79, '83 M.Ed.), Fort Worth. After age 50, he earned two degrees from North Texas and started running marathons. He remained committed to his exercise program until his illness.
• Billy Simpson ('79), Fort Worth. He served in the U.S. Army and later retired from Bell Helicopter in 2000.

1980s [ top ]

• Letty Lynn Marie Gibson Maloney ('80 M.Ed., '81 Ph.D.), Fort Worth. She served on the national teaching faculty and board of directors of the International Rural Development Conference in Delhi, India. She was a delegate to the U.S.-China Joint Conference on Women's Issues in Beijing in 1995 and to the fourth International United Nations Confer-ence on Women.
• Mahvash Parivash Miller ('80), Denton. She was born in Tehran, Iran, and graduated from North Texas with a degree in accounting. She was a partner in Green and Miller PC in Corinth.
• Thomas W. Richardson ('80), Dallas. He earned his North Texas degree in accounting.
• Rodney L. Bunch ('81), Pottsboro. He was an elementary school teacher in Trenton.
• Ardis C. Sapian ('85), Fort Worth. She earned her bachelor's degree in biology from North Texas and was an occupational therapist.
• Terry Walkup ('85 M.Ed.), Dallas. He served in the U.S. Army as a nuclear weapons specialist and military police officer. He was a teacher and counselor for the Plano ISD for many years and was selected as Teacher of the Year for Bowman Middle School in 1976 and in 1980.
• Marsha Gail Waldie ('87), Dallas. She received her North Texas degree in radio, television and film with a minor in drama.
• Tracey Sauerwein, Dallas. She studied at North Texas from 1984 to 1988 and was a guitarist in the Fort Worth alternative-rock band the Toadies during the early 1990s. She later formed her own bands, Hairstick and In The Myst.
• Shirley Jean Buckner Smith ('89, '99 M.S.), Haltom City. She was program director for the Tarrant Area Food Bank and was taking clothes and blankets to Taos Pueblo in New Mexico when she died in an automobile accident. She established the Brooks House Teen Crisis Center in Bedford.

1990s [ top ]

• Annalee Perkins Wardlaw ('91 M.Ed.), Fort Worth. She taught at elementary schools in Dallas and Arlington and then taught reading at Tarrant County College.
• Kirsten Ruud Staley ('92), Dallas. She spent time volunteering at St. Rita's Catholic School and for the Amschwand Sarcoma Cancer Foundation. She was a member of the Dallas Women's Investment Network and an avid runner.
• Jacob Cecil Thompson ('93 Ed.D.), DeSoto. He served in the 328th Army band and was a band director in Manor before serving as an educational diagnostician and principal with the Irving, Midlothian and Cedar Hill school districts. He retired in 2002 after a 30-year career in education.
• Dewayne S. Kent ('96), Hurst. His degree from UNT was in occupational training and development. He worked at Tarrant County College for many years.
• Paul Errol Schrick Jr. (97), Fort Worth. He worked most of his life in construction. He earned a degree in social science at UNT.
• Dorothy Lucille Galvond Waters ('97), Denton. At the age of 81 she completed her bachelor's degree at North Texas in English and psychology. She said she had wanted to earn a degree since she was 18 years old, but "things got in the way." During the Depression she taught in a one-room schoolhouse in Iowa. She and her husband and children moved to Texas in the 1950s. She was a member of the Joy Singers, Lady Lions, Federated Women's Club and Volunteers of Westgate Hospital.

University Community [ top ]

• Damron S. Dennis, Colorado Springs, Colo., librarian, 1970-1984. She was a librarian for Southwestern Medical School and Texas Woman's University in addition to North Texas. After retirement, she was active in the Denton Senior Center.
• Ira Lon Morgan, Austin, executive director of the North Texas Research Institute, 1987-1997. After joining the U.S. Naval Air Corps at age 17 and serving during World War II, he earned bachelor's and master's degrees from Texas Christian University and his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin. His association with North Texas began in the 1970s when he co-chaired the International Accelerator Conference. He helped found the North Texas Research Institute and also established several businesses, including Advanced Molecular Imaging Systems. The company, based in Denton, manufactures radioisotopes for medical uses.
• Robert Ottman ('56 Ph.D.), Denton, Professor Emeritus of music, 1946-1981. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from the Eastman School of Music and his doctoral degree in music theory from North Texas. He taught at several New York public schools before enlisting in the U.S. Army as a chaplain's assistant during World War II. At North Texas, he was coordinator of music theory and directed the Madrigal Singers. His textbooks are required curriculum for many American music schools. In 2003 he and his wife, Shirley ('79, '82 M.A.), donated a French baroque-style organ to UNT, which is located in the Main Auditorium.
• Haggard Good 'Shep' Shepard ('42, '47 M.B.A.), Fort Worth, associate professor of management, 1947-1950 and 1953. In addition to teaching at North Texas, he taught at Ohio State University and later worked at Southwestern Publishing Co. in Dallas. He retired as vice president there in 1985.
• Christy Ann Strickland, Denton, administrative services officer in the Department of Information Technology and Decision Sciences, who had worked at the university since 1991. Her first job at UNT was in the Department of Mathematics, and she worked in the Department of Finance, Insurance, Real Estate and Law and the purchasing office before moving to the ITDS department last year.