AAPT has lost a stalwart member of its community, Mary Beth Todd Monroe, who died August 27, 2013. In concert with the Texas Section of AAPT, we recognize and honor Mary Beth's many contributions to physics teaching, student advising, departmental administration, two-year college education reform, and AAPT governance at both the section and national levels. At the time of her death, Mary Beth was serving as President-Elect of AAPT. Mary Beth was special in many ways. She had an encyclopedic knowledge of AAPT and its governance; she displayed unusual thoroughness in dealing with each issue she addressed; and she demonstrated remarkable trustworthiness, competence, and kindness.
Mary Beth earned her BS degree with honors in physics at Sam Houston State University in 1970 and her MS degree in physics from Sam Houston State University in 1973, where she did research in lasers with Charles Manka. While working on her master's degree,...