Woodrow ‘Wayne’ Hassell, 81, who was a technical engineer and lecturer in the Department of Media Arts from 1988 through the 1990s, died Oct. 6 in Krum. He served in the U.S. Army from 1963 to 1965 and worked at numerous Dallas-Fort Worth TV stations in production as well as at TWU as media services coordinator. When he joined what was then UNT’s Department of Radio, Television and Film in 1988, it was the year North Texas Television was founded and the Super-VHS videotape format was being adopted. As the subject of a student’s thesis documentary in 1995, he said he became interested in TV as a career when he visited the WBAP studios as a young boy. After high school, he got a job there in the mailroom and worked his way up.

Elva Lucille Hershberger Layne, 96, of Denton, who worked in the biology department as a senior secretary in the 1980s, died Aug. 29. She was a member of the President’s Council and generously donated to The James L. Carrico Memorial Fund and the Chemistry Centennial Celebration Scholarship. She was active in her church and had a passion for music, composing several hymns and attending music classes at UNT. She also enjoyed gardening, cooking and traveling. She was preceded in death by her husband Douglas Layne (’49,’50 M.A.).

Barbara Jungjohan, 79, a student affairs administrator and advocate for students with disabilities during her time at North Texas, died Aug. 21 in Denton.

In her work at UNT from 1970 to 1998, she directed many different student services and programs -- including student employment, student retention programs, cooperative education, the women's center and services for mature students, as well as disability accommodation. She also oversaw the annual Honors Day ceremonies. She was named associate vice president for student affairs in 1992 and dean of students in 1995.

“She is the catalyst for programs on campus for the disabled,” former dean of students Joe Stewart said in a 1985 North Texan profile of her. “Barbara is a highly motivated, high-energy individual. She operates on all eight cylinders.”

In 1981, she received a Governor's Citation from the Texas Rehabilitation Commission for her outstanding contributions. She co-wrote the book College Facilities and Services for the Disabled, which won an award from the President's Committee on Employment of the Disabled.

She also belonged to the National Rehabilitation Association, Texas Rehabilitation Association, Association of Higher Education and Disability, and the Texas Association of College and University Student Personnel Administrators, as well as the Denton committee for employing people with disabilities.

She received her bachelor’s degree from Texas Woman’s University and her master’s degree from Baylor University.

Jungjohan was active in her church and was known for knitting hats for children and cancer survivors. She is remembered on campus for her quick smile and compassionate concern for students.

Nancy Ellen Warnell (’15), 66, who was a medical laboratory technologist in the Student Health and Wellness Center from 2006 to 2021, died Aug. 30 in Fort Worth.

Nancy helped set up the laboratory when the Health Center moved to Chestnut Hall and served as lead technologist for three years. Nancy played a critical role in the center’s ability to treat COVID-19 patients and acquire the necessary equipment and materials to test for the virus on-campus. Although she retired in 2021, she returned as a part-time employee this summer to assist with drive-through COVID-19 testing for new student orientations.

She previously worked at various hospitals around the Fort Worth area.

Visitation is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and the funeral service is at 1 p.m., both on Sept. 3, at Hawkins Funeral Home Chapel in Decatur. Burial is at Justin Cemetery.

Mark Luenser (’91), 58, of Coppell, senior food service manager for UNT Dining Services since 2015, died July 13 in Dallas.

Luenser, who earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing at UNT, oversaw The Corner Store, WhichWich and Jamba Juice on campus. He previously worked in management and supervisory positions at Quad Seal Holdings LLC, Staybright Electric, Tuesday Morning and The Storage Works. He also had been a loan officer for the Small Business Administration and director of visitor services for the Dallas Zoological Society. He was active in his church and loved spending time with his family.

Visitation is from 5 to 8 p.m., with a rosary at 7 p.m., July 20 at Rolling Oaks Funeral Home, 400 Freeport Parkway in Coppell. The funeral is at 2 p.m. July 21 at St. Ann Catholic Parish, 180 Samuel Blvd. in Coppell.

Johnny Dillon, 55, of Denton, assistant groundskeeper in Facilities, died June 12. He worked at UNT since 2016 with landscaping and mowing.

He enjoyed attending church, walking and playing with his three children, and listening to the music of Hank Williams Jr.

Services are 2 p.m. June 18 at DeBerry Funeral Home, 2025 W. University Dr. in Denton.

R. Sheldon Newman, 87, Denton, a supervisor in the facilities department for 20 years and a local counterculture icon in the 1960s and 1970s, died May 18. He spent eight years in the U.S. Air Force and then hitchhiked around the country. While enrolled in the mid-’60s at UNT as a library sciences student, he was elected president of the campus chapter of Students for a Democratic Society and led protests against the Vietnam War. He worked as a day laborer in the automobile yards and founded “The Family,” a group of like-minded individuals around Fry Street, and his idea of The Church of Changes, a church of no rules or walls but a desire to help others. He established the Family Feed Store, an organic grains and vegetables co-op that allowed patrons to pay what they could afford, and Earthware, a secondhand clothing store. He returned to work at UNT in the 1980s and ’90s as a custodial supervisor. As a Fry Street regular, he was one of the subjects painted into the iconic mural at Jim’s Diner.

Patricia ‘Pat’ Anne Carroll Roberts, 89, who had served as a program specialist manager in the Center for Continuing Education and Conference Management at UNT, died April 13 in Houston. She was married to James Andrew Roberts, a longtime UNT physics professor, for 64 years before his death in 2019. In her time at UNT, she worked with the Elderhostel program — planning, organizing and implementing weekly activities — and managed many conferences and workshops on campus through the years, in areas ranging from history, music, creative writing and counseling to municipal clerk certification.

Gene Qualls, 84, a longtime clerk in the Registrar’s office who worked at UNT from 1979 to 2003, died April 29 in Denton. He was active in his church and a friend of Pat Boone, whom he met while attending North Texas in the 1950s. Gene was known for sporting his 1967 Impala around town and wearing bright suits and ties. He made friends everywhere he went.

Bryan Roy Galloway, 82, of Denton, who worked with UNT System IT Shared Services in the telecommunications department from 1996 to 2013, died May 1. He served in the U.S. Army in the 1960s. Before joining UNT, he worked as a central office equipment installer for Verizon (formerly GTE) for 30 years and traveled to Mexico City for a two-year project to convert the city’s telecommunications equipment from analog to digital. He was active in his church.