Texas Womans Spring 2024 Magazine

BARBARA D.
NUNNELEY ’75
Distinguished
Alumna
Texas Woman’s Roots
A Family Legacy
FOR DISTINGUISHED
ALUMNA and TWU
Foundation Board member
Barbara D. Nunneley ’75,
there was no question of
where she’d attend college.
The Nunneley family’s road to
Texas Woman’s began in the
1940s, when her grandfather
sold his West Texas ranch and
moved his family of seven
to Denton.
“Texas Woman’s is part of
my family’s roots. My mother
Mildred Nunneley ’47, ’48
earned her bachelor’s and
master’s degree from the
then-Texas State College
for Women. My aunt Rita
Beth Whatley attended the
university in the late 1940s
but graduated from The
University of Texas at Austin’s
engineering program in 1945.
My aunt Ann Whatley ’45
and my sisters Karen Nunneley
Young ’73 and Beth Nunneley
Mazziotta ’80 are all
TWU alumnae.”
My sister Karen ’73
“blazed the trail for me,” says
Barbara. “She introduced
me to professors and invited
me to club meetings. The
leadership opportunities at
TWU were unparalleled.
You grew into your own
person at TWU knowing
you were just as capable
as anyone else in the
classroom and developed the
confidence to make decisions
and the discipline to excel.”
That discipline to excel
led Nunneley to attend law
school. Practicing for more
than four decades, this
award-winning attorney sums
up her career succinctly, “The
beauty and draw of being a
lawyer is that it teaches you
to think critically and to solve
problems. Once you learn
how to analyze a problem,
you can find a solution to
any situation.”
Outside the courtroom,
Nunneley has carried on
another family tradition —
ranching. She lives on 10
acres in the small town of
Bartonville with her horses.
A family legacy and
tradition may have brought
Nunneley to the university,
but it was at Texas Woman’s
where she found her own
person and the confidence
to light up the sky.
TEXAS WOMAN’S 21