FRIENDS WE’LL MISS

unt alumni, Faculty, staFF and students are the university’s greatest legacy. When members of the Eagle family pass, they are remembered and their spirit lives on. Send information about deaths to the North Texan (see contact information on page 7).

1940s

HOMER B. JOHNSON (’49), Garland. He attended North Texas on a football scholarship and was a member of the Geezles. At age 20, he was assistant football coach for Garland ISD, then served in the Korean War before returning for a 68-year career in Garland ISD as head football coach and athletic director. In 1985, Garland ISD renamed its stadium after him.

1950s

JAMES CURL (’51), Galveston. He served in the U.S. Navy, then studied business at North Texas, where he met his wife Elaine (’50) in the library. He kept a garden behind a white picket fence in the front of his home and walked his dog every day.

JOHN WRIGHT JR. (’51), Dallas. He was a member of the Chilton Society and established the John and Topsy Wright Regents Graduate Scholarship with his wife, the late Topsy Roberson (’50), whom he met at North Texas. A practicing lawyer for 60 years, he was a three-term member of the Texas House of Representatives.

ALTON H. PETTIT JR. (’53), Racine, Wisconsin. A World War II veteran, Alton served in the Army Air Forces. He worked for a variety of national and international firms. Survivors include his wife, Sophie Pettit (’53, ’54 M.S.), and son Alex (’14 Ph.D.).

QUINCY ARMSTRONG (’54),

Grandview. He played center position and linebacker from 1949 to 1951. In 1993, he was inducted into the North Texas Athletics Hall of Fame. Quincy played pro football in Canada, then played for the New York Giants and the Cleveland Browns. He later worked as a coach and administrator. While at UNT, he was a member of the Geezles.

H.B. COX (’56), Houston. He was president of his junior and senior classes. He was a charter member of the Sigma Nu Zeta Omicron chapter. After graduation, he served in the U.S. Air Force. He had a 35-year career with Shell Oil Co, living in Brazil, Syria and other spots around the world.

CHARLES E. COLE (’57), Santa Fe, New Mexico. After graduating from North Texas, he received his divinity degree from Yale and served as a pastor before spending his career as a writer and editor. He spent his life advocating for civil rights.

LINDA YOUNG FARRINGTON (’57),

Dallas, was a member of the President’s Council along with her husband, Jerry Farrington (’55), for their donations to UNT. They were married 63 years. Linda was a first-grade teacher in Midland.

JAMES HAMPTON (’57), Trophy Club. He was an actor best known for his roles in F Troop, The Longest Yard, Teen Wolf and Sling Blade. He also had numerous TV show directing credits. At North Texas, he appeared in several plays and was a member of Kappa Alpha. He and his wife, Mary Deese-Hampton, co-wrote his memoir, What? And Give Up Show Business?

CHARLIE JOE COLE JR. (’58), Denton. He played on the North Texas football team that brought racial integration to Texas football and was a member of the Geezles. He then served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War. He worked as a teacher, principal and superintendent for Pilot Point, Forestburg and Lake Dallas ISDs. Charlie established Adult Probation Services in Denton and Cooke counties.

BILL DENSMORE (’58, ’69 M.S.), Dallas. He taught history, as well as photography and student leadership, in Dallas ISD for 37 years. His love for history extended to the Munger Place neighborhood in East Dallas where he grew up, and he wrote two books about it. During the Korean War, he was a U.S. Marines drill instructor.

GASTON LEA WALKER (’58 M.Ed., ’73

Ed.D.), Hurst. He taught in Plano ISD, served as a teacher and principal in Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD, and was a professor of sociology and psychology at Tarrant County Junior College until his retirement in 1994.

DAVID H. WATKINS (’58), Terre Haute, Indiana. He attended North Texas between a two-year stint in the U.S. Army. Following graduation, he played with the Dallas Symphony for five years. After earning master’s and doctoral degrees in music at Indiana University, he taught at Indiana State University until 1997.

1960s

ANNE RICE, Rancho Mirage, California. She attended North Texas in the early 1960s before becoming a bestselling novelist known internationally for her Gothic vampire stories. Her most famous book, Interview with the Vampire, was made into a 1994 movie and inspired a Broadway musical, Lestat. Her more than 30 books have sold 150 million copies. She said she enjoyed college life in Denton so much she featured the town in The Witching Hour.

WALLACE ‘WAYNE’ HOPKINS (’64, ’68

M.Ed.), Dallas. While at North Texas, he was a basketball player and a member of the Geezles fraternity. He worked on his family’s farm and later ran a company that constructed billboards all around the United States, including the first triple billboard sign at Texas Stadium.

JERRY WHITT (’64), Memphis, Tennessee. He taught at Middle Tennessee State University and was the first dean of the School of Management at Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. After retiring, he spent 22 years as a watercolor artist.

DARLENE BONNER (’65), Jacksboro. For 37 years, she served as a high school English and French teacher and counselor, and after retiring, she was an educational counselor at Bridgeport and Jacksboro state correctional facilities. She was a UNT Alumni Association member with Mean Green football season tickets.

CURTIS HENRY FUNK (’67 M.M.Ed.),

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. After receiving his doctorate from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, he taught music at Fresno Pacific College in Fresno, California, from 1968 to 1984 and at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, from 1984 to 2008.

MEAT LOAF, Brentwood, Tennessee. He was a Dallas native who went from being a student at North Texas in 1966 to a Grammy Award-winning musician known for some of the biggest rock hits of all time, including “Paradise by the Dashboard Light,” “Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad” and “I Will Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That),” which won the 1994 Grammy for Best Rock Performance. Bat Out of Hell, released in 1977, was one of the best-selling albums of all time. He also appeared in more than 65 movies, including The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Fight Club and Wayne’s World.

1970s

MARVIN EDWIN ‘ED’ THORNTON

(’77), Aubrey. He was an emergency room doctor who frequently volunteered to aid in humanitarian relief — leading him to appear on the cover of the spring 2014 issue of the North Texan. He earned his Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine degree from the UNT Health Science Center and was a leader of the American Board of Physician Specialists and the Texas Disaster Medical Assistance Team for Region 4. He and his wife, Jana, were members of the President’s Council for their generosity to UNT. Donations may be made to The Dr. Ed Thornton Memorial Scholarship.

2010s

GIOVANNIE PANTOJA (’18), Odessa. He worked as a producer for CBS 7 News in Odessa. His news station described Gio, who had fought cancer since he was a child, as a “force of nature.”

2020s

BRIAN DALE BALCH, Aledo. He was a graduate student in the College of Health and Public Service. He was described as a kindhearted individual who loved children, cooking and fishing.

ANUSH BEERAM, Plano. He was a Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science student and the president of the TAMS Medical Society with dreams of becoming a surgeon. He also was an undergraduate researcher in a plant biology lab. The Anush Reddy Beeram Memorial Scholarship Endowment has been set up in his name.

HELEN O. ETUK, Dallas. She was a senior in the College of Education and Honors College pursuing a degree in kinesiology. She had plans to be a pediatrician. She loved reading, asking her mother for books instead of dolls as child.

SHAWN LAWRENCE, Azle. He was a senior studying mechanical engineering technology in the College of Engineering. He also was an active member of Pi Kappa Alpha.

SUSHMA PANGULUR, Irving. She was a graduate student and teaching assistant in computer science and engineering. She previously worked as a senior software engineer at GlobalEdge and a project engineer at Wipro Limited, both in her native India.

FRIENDS WE’LL MISS

University Community

BUD BUSCHARDT, 79, of Dallas, who served as an adjunct professor in the Department of Media Arts for 46 years, died March 15, 2021. His long career as an on-air personality and producer began on Nov. 22, 1963, when he covered the assassination of President John F. Kennedy for WFAA. He hosted radio shows for WFAA and KVIL and, from 1989 to 2007, he worked for ABC Radio Networks, serving as program director of the Stardust (later Timeless) format. In 2010, he was inducted into the Texas Radio Hall of Fame.

BERNARD ‘BARNEY’ A. CODA, 90, Professor Emeritus of accounting who worked at UNT from 1965 until 1996, died Feb. 23, 2021, in Sanger. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1951 to 1955 and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Olivet College and a master’s and doctorate in accounting from the University of Illinois. He was a C.P.A. and textbook author who served on the faculty at Oklahoma State University and was a faculty resident at Arthur Andersen before joining UNT. The Bernard “Barney” A. Coda Endowed Chair in Accounting in the G. Brint Ryan College of Business was named in his honor, created from a bequest of one of his former students.

ROBERT McREYNOLDS GOLLADAY

II (’66), 77, of Murphy, who served as an assistant professor of business computer information systems for 38 years, died in Richardson on April 18, 2021. He received his master’s degree in computer science from Texas A&M University.

NELSON HAGGERTY, 47, the director of basketball strategy and operations who helped steer the Mean Green men’s basketball team to two Conference USA championships and its first victory in the NCAA Tournament, died April 16, 2021. Nelson joined the Mean Green in 2019 after serving as head coach for Midwestern State for eight seasons. He previously served as associate head coach at MSU and coached at colleges in Kansas and Missouri.

ELINOR HUGHES, 88, of Denton, who was the director of the mini-course program and the Center for Continuing Education and Conference Management in her 21 years at UNT, died Dec. 16, 2020. She also served as the coordinator for UNT’s Education Opportunity Center, manager of the Inmate Rehabilitation Program and coordinator of the Elderhostel Program. She was elected to serve as Denton’s first woman mayor in 1976 and 1977. Survivors include her sons Robert (’84 M.S.) and David (’89). Her husband, the late Bob Hughes, was a faculty member in UNT’s English department.

ROXANA BEJARANO HUGHES (’97

M.S.), 57, an instructional lab supervisor in UNT’s biology department, died April 25, 2021, in Denton. She earned her bachelor’s degree in pharmacy from the Federal University of Rio Grande in Brazil and trained as a medical microbiologist in Argentina. She was certified as a medical laboratory scientist in microbiology at Tarleton State University. She also worked for the Centers for Disease Control. She co-wrote the book Microorganisms: A Laboratory Manual with her husband, Lee Hughes (’87, ’93 M.S., ’98 Ph.D.), associate professor of biological sciences.

WILLIAM ‘BILL’ KAMMAN, 90, Professor Emeritus of history and former associate and interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, died Jan. 14, 2021. He worked at UNT from 1962 to 2009, serving in the dean’s office for nine years. He also served as chair of the history department from 1977 to 1989 and again before his retirement. He served in the U.S. Army during and after the Korean War and earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees at Indiana University in Bloomington and another master’s at Yale. He and his wife, Nancy, helped with the development of the Emeritus College, which became the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. He was a member of UNT’s Chilton Society for his gifts spanning 35 years.

LAWRENCE KELLY, 88, retired professor of history who taught for more than 30 years, died Feb. 1, 2021, in Denton. He earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees, both in American history, from Marquette University, then served as a junior officer in the U.S. Navy for three years. He received his Ph.D. from the University of New Mexico and began teaching at UNT in 1968.

ANDREW ‘STEVE’ KESTER, 88, Professor Emeritus of microbiology who worked at UNT from 1967 to 1994, died Jan. 9, 2021, in Denton. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University and went on to serve in the U.S. Army Chemical Corps. After his service, Steve received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin before working at Miles Laboratories in Indiana. He donated generously to UNT’s Department of Chemistry and KNTU.

MAYDELL LILLIARD, 76, of Denton, who worked in UNT’s financial aid department, died Dec. 11, 2020, in Aubrey. She was a homemaker who took night classes to pursue a career. She worked as a medical secretary for the Denton State School before working at UNT from the 1990s until 2009.

LILLIAN LINEBARGER (’57), 84, of Denton, who worked at UNT from 1972 to 2000, died Feb. 21, 2021. She had served on the occupational and

vocational education faculty and as a program administrator and project director for grant writing. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees from Texas Woman’s University. She taught in Georgia, Fort Worth and other Texas cities. Survivors include her husband, Professor Emeritus of English James

Linebarger.

MARYCARL MACKEY, 90, of Denton, who served in the UNT Student Health and Wellness Center from 1964 to 1995, died Dec. 29, 2020. She is survived by her husband, Jim Mackey, Professor Emeritus of physics. They moved to Denton in 1964, when Jim joined the faculty and Marycarl began work as a lab technician for Robert Croissant and the health center.

JOHN F. MILLER III, 82, who served at UNT as a philosophy professor for 20 years, died in January 2021 in Tampa, Florida. John earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy at Gettysburg College, his master’s degree at the University of Maryland and his Ph.D. from New York University. After teaching at several universities, he worked at UNT for 20 years before moving to Florida to teach until his retirement last summer.

LT. COL. GUS MYERS, 83, who was the director of risk management services from the 1980s to 2005, died Jan. 25, 2021, in Denton. He served in the U.S. Navy, graduated with his bachelor’s degree in physics from Eastern Illinois University and then served in the Vietnam War as a pilot of the U.S. Air Force. In 1966, Gus attended the University of Arizona for his master’s in nuclear engineering and then taught at the U.S. Air Force Academy.

ROY ‘MARTIN’ RICHARDS, 73, of Denton, a business computer information systems professor from 1982 to 2000, died Feb. 13, 2021. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s in systems analysis and design at Georgia State University, and a doctorate in business from the University of Georgia. He was on the faculty at the University of Montana and served as an insurance risk management consultant before coming to UNT. He trained with the police academy at UNT before moving to Tennessee, and he worked in law enforcement after retiring from teaching in 2003.

CHARLES ROUH, 74, of Grapevine, a member of the Chilton Society, died Aug. 10, 2020. He and his wife, Peggy Rouh (’95 M.S., ’01 Ph.D.), an adjunct professor in the College of Information, established The Drs. Jerry and Michelle Wircenski Scholarship in the College of Information in honor of the impact the professors had on Peggy’s life.

DOROTHY DEANE SILLS (’45), 95,

who worked in the UNT libraries from the 1970s to 2003, died Feb. 5, 2021, in Denton. As a UNT undergraduate, she earned her degree in home economics and taught high school in Hearne before returning to Denton. She also earned a master’s degree from Texas Woman’s University.

GLEN L. TAYLOR, (’50, ’53 M.B.A.),

91, of Denton, Professor Emeritus of business and former associate vice president of academic affairs, died Jan. 19, 2021, in Denton. He earned his doctorate from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania before working at North Texas from 1953 to 1998. He also was instrumental in the planning for the Business Administration Building (now Sage Hall). The Glen L. Taylor Professorship/Chair in Insurance was established and named in his honor.

CONSTANCE ‘CONNIE’ WILLIAMS,

57, accounting specialist in the financial aid department, died Jan. 21, 2021, in Denton. She had worked at UNT since 2005. After raising her three children, she earned a bachelor’s degree in business from Texas Woman’s University in 2003.

EUGENE ‘GENE’ PATRICK WRIGHT

(’60, ’61 M.A.), 85, Professor Emeritus of English, died April 30, 2021, in Frisco. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He earned his doctorate in English Renaissance literature from the University of Texas and taught at Lamar University and UT before working at North Texas from 1966 to 2006. He was appointed the first faculty ombudsman in 2005 and received the Mortar Board Senior Honor society’s “Top Prof” award. He published scholarly books as well as a series of novels.

DONALD L. YATES, 69, who was assistant professor in the Institute of Criminal Justice at UNT from 1989 to 1993, died Feb. 14, 2021, in Roanoke, Virginia. He earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Bishop College, a master’s degree in sociology from Indiana University, a master’s degree in criminal justice from the University of Texas at Tyler and his doctorate in sociology from the University of Texas at Austin.

MEMORIALS

Send memorials to honor UNT alumni

and friends, made payable to the UNT Foundation, to University of North Texas, Division of University Advancement, 1155 Union Circle #311250, Denton, Texas 76203-5017. Indicate on your check the fund or area you wish to support. Or make secure gifts online at one.unt.edu/giving. For more information, email giving@unt.edu or call 940-565-2900.