To send us information about the deaths of North Texas alumni, fill out and submit the online form, send e-mail to north_texan@unt.edu, fax to (940) 369-8763 or mail to The North Texan; University of North Texas; University Relations, Communications and Marketing; P.O. Box 311070; Denton, Texas 76203-1070.

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1930s [ top ]

• James Dee Baldwin Jr. ('35), Dallas. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy before the bombing of Pearl Harbor and remained in the Naval Reserve, retiring in 1974. He worked at Bloom Advertising Agency as a copy editor and proofreader and at Continental Trailways. He also volunteered at Dallas libraries and museums, including the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza.
• Mary Fredna Tosch Skaggs ('36), Longview. She taught elementary school music in Aledo. She earned her degree in elementary education from North Texas.
• Alphia Mae Miller Larner ('38), Stephenville. She taught at schools in Lipan, Sap Oak, Morgan Mill and Bluff Dale for 43 years. She also served as a church librarian.

1940s [ top ]

• Leta K. Whitten Anderson ('40), North Richland Hills. She earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from North Texas.
• Nova Mayo ('40), Petrolia. She was a retired teacher, having earned her degree in elementary education from North Texas. She was 100 years old.
• Cleo Fowler Meeker ('40), Waco. She taught at Crestview Elementary in the Waco ISD and was a teacher and member of the board of Waco Christian School. She also was a member of the board of trustees of Abilene Christian University.
• Mary Louise Nation Wood ('40), Athens. She taught elementary school in Hallsville, Santa Rosa, Azle and Arlington, retiring from the Arlington ISD after 28 years of teaching. At North Texas, she was a member of the Phoreffs Sorority, and she was a member of Delta Kappa Gamma. The Roy and Louise Wood Elementary School in the Arlington ISD is named after her and her husband of 65 years.
• Mary Virginia Burdette Ryan ('41), Pflugerville. She taught school in the Austin ISD for 32 years, retiring in 1979. Friends say she credited North Texas with her success as a teacher.
• Mitch Zablotny ('43), Fort Worth. He was recruited from Chicago by ’Fessor Graham for the North Texas music program and was concert master of the pit orchestra. After earning his bachelor’s degree, he did graduate work at North Texas and later earned his master’s degree at the American Conservatory in Chicago. Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Louise Reeves Zablotny ('53, ’68 M.Ed.).
• Lillian Cross Stegall ('44), Fort Worth. She served as a teacher with the Fort Worth ISD until her retirement in 1977. She was among the earliest open-heart surgery patients in the country when surgeons at the Mayo Clinic corrected a congenital heart defect in 1956.
• Mary Kate Randle Durham ('45), Granbury. After teaching in the Granbury ISD, she got her insurance agent license and with her husband operated Durham Insurance Agency until his death. She was well known as the local historian for Granbury and Hood County. Her daughter says she was always proud to be a graduate of North Texas.
• Edwardine Cordell McCoy Fox ('46), Dallas. She began a 47-year teaching career at age 18 in a one-room school in Oklahoma and later taught high school and was an elementary supervisor in Denison. She retired as a professor of elementary education from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1984 after 15 years of service.
• Elizabeth Youngblood Proffer ('47), Fort Worth. She served as dean of students at Texas Christian University for more than 30 years. She earned her degree in political science from North Texas.
• Aaron Riley ‘A.R.’ Winder Jr. ('47), Houston. He received seven bronze stars serving as a paratrooper during World War II. He was an elementary school principal at several Texas City schools and served as director of audiovisuals for the Arlington ISD. After retiring in 1982, he began a wooden craft business. His wife, Dorothy McKay Winder ('47), passed away in 2001.
• LeRoy M. Anderson ('48), Tyler. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II and worked for 31 years as a band and choir director in East Texas public schools. In 2002, he was honored as one of the “120 Heroes” of the 120 years of the Tyler ISD.
• Louis F. Bolton ('48, ’74 M.Ed.), Carrollton. He served as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, flying 26 missions during World War II. He taught for 25 years in the Dallas and Carrollton ISDs and other districts and retired in 1986.
• James Lester Matthews ('48, ’49 M.S.), Dallas. He was president of Photobiomed and Microbiomed and retired executive director of the Baylor Research Institute, which he helped found. He was a world-renowned authority on bone physiology and held 27 patents. For more than 20 years, he taught at the Baylor College of Dentistry. Survivors include his wife, Betty Sharp Matthews ('50). His father, the late J.C. Matthews ('25), was North Texas president from 1951 to 1968.
• Frank Martino, Aubrey. He was president and chair of Russell-Newman manufacturing company and a civic leader in Denton. He chaired the Denton County Heart Association and served as president of the Denton Chamber of Commerce, among many other community activities. He attended North Texas in the late 1940s. His wife was Betty Jean Newman Martino ('50).
• Helen Peden Kelly ('49), Fort Worth. She taught for one year at Our Lady of Victory School in Fort Worth after earning her degree in home economics and then worked in sales for 33 years. At North Texas, she was house mother for Kappa Kappa Kappa. Other North Texans in her family have included her mother, Annie Wilkerson (1906); her daughter, Nancy Kelly ('82, ’83, ’91 M.S.); and her grandson, current student Austin Kelly.

1950s [ top ]

• The Rev. Pauline Guy Bullock ('50, ’68 M.M.Ed.), Longview. She was an ordained minister with the Assembly of God Church and co-founded the Hillcrest Children’s Home in Hot Springs, Ark. She also taught music at public schools and later taught piano in her home. She wrote several books and was an extra in movies filmed locally. She met and married D. Eugene ‘Gene’ Bullock ('51) while at North Texas. He taught school and worked for John Deere Tractor and Implement Co. in Dallas before his death in 2004. He also was an accomplished church organist and pianist.
• George Bragg ('51) Fort Worth. He devoted nearly 30 years to building the Texas Boys Choir into a world-renowned organization. It began in Denton while he was a student at North Texas, employed by the dean of music and paid $30 monthly to create it. Under his direction, the choir recorded more than 20 albums, winning Grammys in 1966 and 1968. UNT opened the George Bragg Boy Choir Music Library in February.
• Mary Kathryn Landers Cabaniss ('51, ’85 M.S.), Lake Highlands. She worked at Texas Eastman Corp., Magnolia Petroleum Co. and several school districts. After earning her master’s degree in library science, she worked as an elementary school librarian in the Richardson ISD. At North Texas, she was active in the honorary business fraternity Pi Omega Pi, the Baptist Student Union and the Kilgore College Club.
• Henry Mac Fullerton ('51 M.M.Ed.), Euless. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II and then earned his degrees, including a doctorate from New Mexico State University. He retired in 1983 from the Region IX Education Service Center in Wichita Falls, where he was executive director. He also worked as a vice president for several life insurance companies.
• William Thomas Coulter ('52, ’57, ’84 M.Ed.), Lake Dallas. He served in the U.S. Coast Guard in the late 1940s. He was a retired school teacher and taught at Richland College for a number of years.
• Jovan Porterfield ('52), Alexandria, Va. He moved from Texas to the Washington, D.C., area in 1960 and in 1973 founded Tartan Properties, a real estate firm providing leasing and sales services to business in the northern Virginia area. He sang with a number of choral groups and as a soloist in church choirs. He also was an avid sailor and a collector of old maps, prints and books.
• William Homer Fuller ('54 M.S.), Dallas. He left his position as head basketball coach at Dallas’ W.H. Adamson High School in 1954 to become the Dallas ISD’s deputy assistant superintendent for pupil accounting. He retired from the district after 36 years of service. He also was a basketball and football official at the high school and college levels and was on the officiating crew of the first college football game to be played in the Houston Astrodome.
• Isabel Stuart Phelps Giles ('54), Fairview. She taught elementary school and high school home economics at public schools in Huckabay, Leuders, Strawn, Keller and McKinney. In Weston, she taught all six grades in one of the last one-teacher schools in Texas.
• Donald D. Medford ('54, ’55 M.S.), Dallas. He was a U.S. Navy veteran and taught at schools in California, Arizona and Texas before beginning a career with the U.S. Postal Service. He had a longtime interest in collecting and studying Indian artifacts.
• Odus D. Moorman ('54), Beaumont. He was a director of physical therapy at a clinic in Virginia and at Baptist Hospital of Southeast Texas for more than 26 years and then entered into private practice. After retiring in 1997, he worked with a prison ministry in Beaumont. He was married to his college sweetheart, Bonita Boyd Moorman ('53).
• Barry O. Wood ('54), Newark, Ohio. He served for 27 years in the U.S. Air Force, retiring as colonel. He also earned an M.B.A. and was a life underwriter. He loved golf and fishing and was active in his community and church. At North Texas, he was a member of Theta Chi.
• James Schell ('47), Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He served on the music theory faculty at the University of British Columbia from 1964 until his retirement in 1999. Earlier in his career, he was first horn and associate conductor of the U.S. Fourth Army Band and Orchestra, conductor of opera and choirs at North Texas and a member of the French horn sections of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Dallas Civic Opera, among other groups.
• Edward G. Crouse ('58), Denison. He was a two-time POW during the Korean War and earned four Bronze Stars. He served 20 years with the inspector general’s office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and became the first comptroller for the city of Grapevine.
• Richard Lee Barnhart ('59, ’60 M.S.), Victoria. He was a retired chemist who earned two degrees in chemistry from North Texas. He had worked for DuPont and was co-owner of Pelican’s Wharf.

1960s [ top ]

• Stanley Morris Marak ('61), Greenville. He was a U.S. Army veteran and was co-owner of East Texas Paving Co. from 1965 to 2002.
• Annie Oliver Wedemeyer ('62), Longview. She was a homemaker, den mother, Little League mom, room mother and PTA participant who was an excellent cook. She earned her degree in home economics from North Texas.
• Thomas R. Arthur ('64 M.Ed.), Denver, Colo. He earned his graduate degree in secondary school supervision from North Texas.
• Barbara Joan Griffin Reames ('66), Dallas. She taught in private and public schools for more than 25 years in Dallas and Carmel, Calif. She also helped establish the Arlington Dental Wives Association.

1970s [ top ]

• Scott Sherwood Barrow ('71), Rowlett. At age 7, he co-hosted the Sunday Comic, reading Dallas Morning News comic strips on WFAA-TV Channel 8. As an adult, he had a 30-year career in real estate as owner and operator of Scott Barrow, Realtors. He was a charter member of the Dallas chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, which was founded by his mother.
• Jeanne Courtland Cardwell Jarrell ('71), Dallas. She was the owner of her own interior design company, Jeanne Jarrell Interior Design Inc., and was active in the Dallas community. At North Texas, she earned her degree in art.
• Mark R. Quinlan ('71), Cypress. He coached high school football for 10 years and then worked for more than 20 years at Riddell Sports Co. While at North Texas, he was a member of Sigma Alpha Mu and played football on the offensive line. Survivors include his wife, alumna Eva J. Takas Quinlan, and his daughter, Amanda Quinlan ('04).
• Roy E. Rhame ('73 Ph.D.), Tiki Island. He served in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve. He was a high school teacher for 13 years in Lake Charles, La., and spent seven summers as a teacher and administrator for the Louisiana Governor’s Program for Gifted Children. In 1973, he became a science professor at the College of the Mainland, where he taught for more than 24 years.
• Edna Smith Glenn ('75 M.A.), St. Louis. She was an educator, writer, artist and beauty queen. She was Miss Missouri and first runner-up in the Miss America Pageant in 1935. She retired from the art history faculty at Texas Tech University in Lubbock in 1987 and later taught as an adjunct professor of art history and Native American art history at the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico.
• Margaret E. Pool Milling ('75 Ed.D.), Fort Worth. She was a retired educator, counselor and administrator who had worked for the Fort Worth ISD from 1962 to 1984. In 1972, she became the district’s first female secondary school assistant principal and later served as principal at several schools before her retirement.
• Marcia Thelin Bradford ('76), Denton. She earned her bachelor’s degree in elementary education from North Texas. She was an active member of the Shakespeare Club and the Denton Quilt Guild, among other organizations.
• Christi Sue Chesser Davey ('78), Fort Worth. She worked in the real estate community in Fort Worth and Arlington for 25 years. She enjoyed trout fishing, shopping, gardening and Dr Pepper.

1980s [ top ]

• Jerry Glenn Kirby ('82), Dallas. He worked for 20 years in the telecommunications industry, most recently with Comcast and Time/Warner Cable.
• Theresa Marie Simmons Swartz ('88), Lewisville. She worked with her father at one of Denton County’s first computer stores, Complete Computer Systems, and later began a career as a sales professional and trainer for several companies. She most recently was an operations manager for Xerox Corp. in Lewisville. Survivors include her husband, Sherman Swartz ('82).

1990s [ top ]

• Katrina Robinson ('94), Dallas. She was employed at several area television stations, including KXAS-Channel 5, KTVT-Channel 11 and KTXA-Channel 21. She performed in commercials and did voiceover work for several companies, and she also was a reporter for the Mark Cuban Show, Talk Street and Paragon Cable. She was an active member of the Zeta Eta chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.
• Christopher Duane Friday ('96), Corinth. He was a teacher with the Lewisville ISD and owner of Pinnacle Sports Performance.

2000s [ top ]

• Kimberly Favors ('03), Dallas. She earned her bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship and strategic management and had begun work on a master’s degree. She had been employed with Ford Motor Credit Co. and was a mentor to youth in her community.
• Benjamin T. Hamilton ('03), St. Jo. He was fond of attending family reunions and of working with his father on genealogy. He worked on computer programs for NASA.
• Meredith Lynn Thomas, Denton. An accounting student, she worked at Denton First State Bank. She began attending UNT in 2005.
• Meggan Kathleen Weeks, Denton. She started graduate school last fall and was a teaching assistant, working on her master’s degree in materials science and engineering.

University Community [ top ]

• Ben A. Chappell ('55, '56 M.A.), Mead, Okla., assistant professor of speech and drama, 1957-1961, and director of forensics, 1970-1975. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, Chappell earned his degrees at North Texas and later earned a doctorate from the University of Oklahoma. As director of forensics in the early 1970s, he led North Texas debate teams that were ranked in the top 10 and top 20 in the nation. He received the 'Fessor Graham award, the highest honor bestowed by the student body, in 1975. He was a Professor Emeritus of communication at Southeastern Oklahoma State University in Durant, where he taught from 1975 to 1996.
• Jennifer Lynn Hoffman, Denton, postdoctoral research assistant in UNT’s Institute of Applied Sciences. Survivors include her husband, Aaron Roberts, assistant professor of biology.
• Rosemary N. Killam, Washington, D.C., Professor Emeritus of music, 1977-2005. She earned her bachelor's degree from the Eastman School of Music, her master's degree from George Washington University and her doctorate from Stanford University. She taught courses in music theory, counterpoint and sightsinging and was an expert on computer-assisted instruction in music. Her interests also included women's issues and mentoring. Her field recordings of Texas and Missouri folk music and a ballad book manuscript are archived at the American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress.
• Lee W. Miller, Colleyville, Professor Emeritus of English, 1948-1949 and 1951-1983. After serving in the 923rd Field Artillery Battalion, 98th Division, from 1942 to 1946, Miller earned his bachelor's degree from Cedarville College, his master's degree from Rice University and his doctorate from Louisiana State University. He was a member of the South-Central Modern Language Association and the American Literature Group and had served as the business manager for Studies in the Novel, a journal of literary critique published by the North Texas Department of English beginning in 1969.
• Paulette Needham, Argyle, assistant registrar, 1980-1994. She was a founding member of the Argyle Church of Christ.
• William Ernest Painter Sr., Carthage, Mo., Professor Emeritus of history, 1967-1999. During World War II he registered as a conscientious objector and served in the Philippines with C Company, 127th Infantry, and in Japan during the occupation. He earned bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Missouri, studied at the University of Florence in Italy as a Fulbright Scholar and was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. At North Texas he taught Renaissance and Reformation history and directed the annual Teaching of History conference. He was a Phi Beta Kappa and a member of numerous professional organizations.
• Steven C. Poe, Denton, professor of political science since 1989. Poe received a bachelor's degree from William Penn College and master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Iowa. As the first Johnie Christian Family Professor of Peace Studies at UNT from 1998 to 2000, he established an interdisciplinary minor and certificate program in peace studies, making UNT the first university in the Southwest to offer a major or minor in the field. Beginning in 2003, students majoring in international studies could choose peace studies as their primary concentration. Poe was twice named a "Top Prof" and twice selected as an Honor Professor. He also received the UNT President's Council Award for Excellence in Teaching. Memorials may be made to the UNT Peace Studies Program, Department of Political Science, P.O. Box 305340, Denton, Texas 76203, (940) 565-2276.
• Geraldine English Smith, Denton, catalog and database management librarian, 1968-1995. She earned her degrees, including her M.L.S., at Texas Woman’s University.
• Raymond Von Dran, Syracuse, N.Y., professor and dean of the School of Library and Information Sciences, 1987-1995. Von Dran earned his bachelor's degree from Seton Hall University and two master's degrees and a doctorate from the University of Wisconsin. In addition to serving as dean at UNT, he directed the interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in information science and was chair of the Information Resources Council. He left to serve as dean of Syracuse University's School of Information Studies, and his retirement from that position was to take effect this summer. He had planned to travel the world for a year with his wife, Gisela, a former visiting assistant professor of management at UNT, before returning to Syracuse as a professor.
• Donald Ray Williams, Corinth, professor of management science, 1974-1991. He earned his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from Oklahoma State University. At North Texas he founded and served as the director for the Center for Quality and Productivity. His areas of specialization included mathematical analysis, statistics, systems analysis and optimization techniques. He wrote or co-wrote five textbooks on mathematics and statistics. He also served as a process improvement consultant for numerous organizations and was certified as a quality engineer by the American Society for Quality Control. He founded Process Improvement Consultants and had worked for several corporations and for NASA.
• William W. 'Bill' Winspear, Dallas, namesake of the Margot and Bill Winspear Performance Hall in the Murchison Performing Arts Center and recipient of an honorary doctor of performing arts degree from UNT in 2000. Winspear, founder and retired president and chief executive officer of Associated Materials Inc., and his wife, Margot, donated $2 million to the UNT College of Music in 1998 to cover completion of the Lyric Theater in the Murchison Performing Arts Center. In 2002 they used a portion of that gift to complete a $1.7 million endowment to fund scholarships and a faculty enhancement program. In 2003 they donated the Regal Eagle touring bus. The couple received the Honorary Alumnus/Alumna Award in 1994 and the Green Glory Award in 2000 for their support.
• Avanelle Yvonne O'Dell Witherspoon, Austin, library assistant, 1960-1985. She also worked for Texas Woman’s University and the state comptroller’s office. She was a charter member of the Modern Homemakers Club formed in 1947, the Twilight Garden Club, Women’s Missionary Union and couples Forty-Two.