Georgia ‘Billie’ Leach Gough (’46 M.S.), Denton, an alumna and Professor Emerita in the College of Visual Arts and Design who played a key role in strengthening the arts at UNT, died at age 103. She earned her bachelor’s degree at Central State College in Oklahoma and taught in Oklahoma City and Denison while working on her master’s in art at North Texas.

In 1947, she was hired by then art department director Cora Stafford as one of the department’s six faculty members. Billie returned to school to learn ceramics and was the founder of that program, teaching for 25 years prior to retiring. Her students were known to tote their clay pieces blocks from their studio to be fired in a kiln in the old Power Plant across the Denton campus.

Billie wed colleague and Professor Emeritus Ray Gough (’40, ’41 M.A.), who taught art at North Texas from 1950 to 1979 and founded CVAD’s interior design program. The couple were dedicated supporters of the university, which recognized them in 2004 with UNT’s Green Glory Award for exceptional service.

Located in the Art Building, the Ray and Georgia Gough Design Research Space bears their names, along with the Ray and Georgia Gough Research Fund, the Ray and Georgia Gough Fund for Design Education, and the Georgia and Ray Gough Scholarship.

Billie also served on the CVAD advisory board and on the board at the Greater Denton Arts Council, where she founded the annual “Materials Hard + Soft” exhibition in 1987. It’s one of the nation’s leading juried arts and crafts shows.