News Briefs continued SHIRLEY MASON Shirley Mason began teaching at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in 1989. She retired as Associate Professor of Theatre Arts in December. Mason received her Ph.D. in Theatre and her M.A. in Oral Interpretation of Literature from the University of Colorado. She received her B.A. in English Language and Literature with First Class Honours from the University of London in England. Her directing credits at UNL included “The Way of the World” in 2002 and “All’s Well That Ends Well” in 2000. Her acting credits included E.M. Ashford in “Wit” in 2002, Mrs. Fezziwig in “A Christmas Carol” in 1992 and Eleanor in “The Lion in Winter” in 1999. Mason received a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship for study at a Folger Summer Institute for teachers, “Shakespeare and the History of Taste” in 1990. DOROTHY BENES
SHIRLEY MASON
Dorothy Benes retired this spring after more than 31 years at UNL. Benes was the accounting technician in the Department of Theatre Arts and for the Nebraska Repertory Theatre.
In Memoriam DOROTHY BENES
GAIL H. BUTT, JR.
Gail H. Butt, Jr. died July 27 in Lincoln. He retired from UNL in 1986 after teaching painting and oriental art history since 1949. Butt graduated from Ohio State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry and a Master of Fine Arts degree in art. He received a Woods Fellowship for study in Japan and was a founding member of the Asian Art and Culture Guild. He was a consulting curator in the creation of UNL’s Lentz Center for Asian Culture. Butt was also an accomplished musician with a special interest in Renaissance music. MYRON ROBERTS Myron Roberts died May 15, 2004, in Maine. He retired from UNL in 1974 after teaching organ and music history for about 40 years. Roberts held a Bachelor of Music degree from the College of the Pacific at Stockton, California, and a Master of Sacred Music degree from the School of Sacred Music, Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He became a member of the University of Nebraska music faculty in 1940 teaching until the time of his retirement in 1974. He was named a Foundation Professor of Organ and Theory by the University of Nebraska Board of Regents in 1968. Active in affairs of the Lincoln community, he had been organist for the Cathedral of the Risen Christ, Holy Trinity and First Plymouth churches. He served as a member of the Lincoln Symphony Board and was a past State Chairman of the American Guild of Organists. GREGG TALLMAN Greg Tallman died March 31, 2004, in Gainesville, Fla. He was the Director of Opera at UNL in the 1980s. Born in New Jersey, his introduction to musical theater was Broadway.
MYRON ROBERTS
In the late 1980s, he left Lincoln to direct the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. He returned to Lincoln in 1991 and served as development director of Planned Parenthood of Nebraska and Council Bluffs and later at Folsom Children’s Zoo. He left Lincoln again in 2002.
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