C. Ray Gough (’40, ’41 M.A.), 95, Professor Emeritus of art, died April 12 in Denton. Gough, who worked at North Texas from 1950 to 1979, is considered the founder of the interior design program in the College of Visual Arts and Design. He led the program to receive accreditation in 1977 — making North Texas one of the first universities in the country to earn that distinction. He and his wife, Georgia Leach Gough (’46 M.F.A.), also a Professor Emeritus of Art, established the Georgia and Ray Gough Scholarship. He also started the annual Ray Gough Lecture in interior design. He maintained an architectural practice while teaching and was active in the community. He was honored by the Governor’s Conference of the Arts and received the UNT Green Glory Award. He earned his degrees in art at North Texas. After serving in World War II as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, he earned a second bachelor’s degree in architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology, studying with Mies Van der Rohe. Memorials may be made to the Georgia and Ray Gough Scholarship.

Claude Wallace Cheek, 89, former associate professor of special education, died May 25. He taught at UNT from 1972 to 1992 and was chosen as an Honor Professor in 1980. He was a member of several national education and Texas MHMR committees. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he received a Purple Heart for his service in the Battle of Okinawa and continued his education on the G.I. Bill, earning bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees from Wichita State University. Before joining UNT, he held director positions at the Rehabilitation Center in Philadelphia, the Institute of Logopedics in Wichita and the North East ISD in San Antonio and was chair of special education at Lamar University in Beaumont. His hobbies included watercolor painting, gardening and developing orchids. He also was a member of the UNT Retired Instructor and Personnel Committee.

Deborah Stewart Arnold, 63, former senior associate director of financial aid, died Feb. 25 in Denton. She worked in the student financial aid and scholarships department at UNT for more than 30 years, retiring in 2013. She served as president of the Texas Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators from 1999 to 2000 and was a part of the financial aid community in universities around Texas. She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from East Texas Baptist University.

Charldean Newell (’60, ’62 M.A.), 75, Regents Professor Emerita of public administration, died Nov. 22 in Denton. She retired from UNT in 2002 after 37 years on the faculty. She served as chair of the political science department, as associate vice president for academic affairs and as assistant to the chancellor for planning. She was a mentor to hundreds of students and colleagues. Even after her retirement, she wrote textbooks, taught courses for the International City/County Management Association and served in a number of charity efforts. She also was the founding director of special projects for the Federation of North Texas Area Universities. She co-wrote four books and more than 50 articles and chapters. She earned her North Texas degrees in journalism and government and a doctorate in government from the University of Texas in 1968.

Clark ‘Corky’ Nelson, 75, one of the winningest coaches in North Texas football history, died Nov. 17 in Temple. He was head football coach from 1982 to 1990 and also served as athletic director in 1990. He was inducted into the UNT Athletic Hall of Fame in 2013 after bringing order to Mean Green football in the 1980s. His teams won the Southland Conference championship in 1983, when he was named conference coach of the year, and went to the Division I-AA playoffs three times. After playing college football for Southwest Texas State, he began his coaching career at the high school level and also coached at Baylor University and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. He is survived by his wife, Judy Buckles Nelson (’80 M.S.), a former women's basketball coach at UNT.

Andy Everest, 90, died Dec. 21 in Arlington. He served at assistant head football coach from 1973 to 1978 and athletic director from 1979 to 1981. He was inducted to the UNT Hall of Fame in 2004 for his work at UNT, which includes coaching the Mean Green football team to several winning seasons and raising $220,000 in a 1981 fundraising campaign for new athletic facilities. He served as head football coach at the University of California at Santa Barbara and held positions at Southern Methodist University, Stanford, Foothill College and the University of Utah, as well as with the Italian professional league and the New Orleans Saints. He was also inducted to the All-American Football Foundation Hall of Fame in 1997 as an outstanding assistant coach. He served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, then attended Texas Western, now the University of Texas at El Paso, where he was a star player on the football team. When he graduated in 1951, he had offers from four NFL teams, but he decided to take a job as a high school teacher and coach because it paid better.

Edmond ‘Ed’ Daniel DeLatte, 84, who served as an associate professor of theatre in the Department of Dance and Drama from 1984 until his retirement in 1995, died Feb. 12 in Dallas. He founded the Dallas Repertory Theatre in 1969. Throughout his career he directed 70 plays and musicals. He was a member of Actor’s Equity and the Screen Actors Guild for more than 40 years and appeared in dozens of films and commercials. While he was at UNT, he received the Service Learning Award, and the Ed DeLatte Musical Theatre Scholarship was established in his honor. He earned his bachelor’s degree at Texas Christian University, a master’s degree in religious education and drama from Brite Divinity School and a Master of Fine Arts in theatre from Southern Methodist University. Donations may be made in his memory to UNT’s Ed DeLatte Musical Theatre Scholarship or Department of Dance and Theatre.

Vern Leon Kagarice, 71, died Sept. 16 in Chautauqua, N.Y. He had been a professor of trombone and a conductor of the UNT Trombone Choir since 1983.

Prior to joining UNT, he taught trombone at Youngstown State University in Ohio, where he was principal trombonist in the Youngstown Symphony Orchestra. He was a member of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra since 1979 and traveled the globe as a clinician and recitalist.

He received awards from the International Trombone Association, where his contributions included serving as executive manager and journal editor, and conducted UNT trombone choirs that won the prestigious Emory Remington Trombone Choir Competition. He co-wrote books about trombone literature and arranged music for various brass combinations. His publishing company, Kagarice Brass Editions, became a resource of trombone and brass-related materials.

Kagarice earned a bachelor’s degree from Bethany College and master’s and doctoral degrees from Indiana University.

Survivors include his wife, Jan Kagarice (’89 M.M.), senior lecturer in trombone.

Milton 'Pat' Howell, 74, former UNT associate vice president for facilities and associate vice chancellor for system facilities from 2001 to 2005, died Sept. 5 at his home in Albuquerque, N.M.

Howell was recognized by UNT in 2014 with a UNT Presidential Citation for his integral role in the planning and development of campus facilities. He played a key role in the purchase and development of a former manufacturing facility from Texas Instruments that became Discovery Park. Around the same time, he helped UNT develop the former Liberty Christian School campus along Bonnie Brae Street into athletics facilities that met NCAA standards. Howell also had a major role in the construction of the Chemistry Building, Chestnut Hall, the Pohl Recreation Center, Honors Hall and Legends Hall, among others. He spearheaded the master planning for Victory Hall, the Athletics Center and Apogee Stadium, and he worked with the Texas Department of Transportation to plan the pedestrian bridge over Interstate 35E between Fouts Field and Apogee Stadium.

He served as a consultant for the UNT System on some of the university’s large planning and construction projects after he retired.

He previously was director of facilities management at the UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth. He served in the Army Corps of Engineers, retiring as a colonel. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Auburn University and his master’s degree from the University of Missouri-Rolla.

John James Haynie, 89, Professor Emeritus of music, died Sept. 30 in Denton.

He joined the music faculty in 1950 and served as professor of trumpet for 40 years, renowned for his virtuoso solos and innovative instruction. His pioneering research in the field of video-fluoroscopic studies, in which he used moving X-ray images with sound to learn more about trumpet-playing mechanics, influenced trumpet pedagogy.

In 1984, he earned the ’Fessor Graham Award, the highest honor given by the student body, and in 1996, he received UNT’s Honorary Alumnus Award. Other honors included the Award of Merit from the International Trumpet Guild and the Edwin Franko Goldman Memorial Citation from the American Bandmasters Association. In Cisco, the town where he grew up, the J.J. Haynie Band Hall was named in his honor.

Haynie wrote three method books for trumpet and in 2007 published Inside John Haynie’s Studio: A Master Teacher’s Lessons on Trumpet and Life (UNT Press). When he retired in 1990, the publishing house Alphonse Leduc gave him individual copies of its entire library of trumpet works, which he donated to the UNT Libraries.

Haynie, who began playing a bugle at the age of 5, was considered a cornet prodigy. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and after playing solos for War Bond tours across Wisconsin, participated in the Battle of the Bulge. He later earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Illinois.