Sue Mayborn
Pro Texana Medal of Service

Awarded to an individual whose contributions in furthering the mission of Baylor have made an immeasurable impact in the public or non-profit sector.
The Mayborn Foundation has supported dozens of initiatives, including youth and educational programs, museums and hospitals. The late Frank Mayborn was heavily involved in developing Temple and the surrounding area. He founded Central Texas College, donated land that established the Frank W. Mayborn Convention Center and played an instrumental role in Ft. Hood’s establishment near Temple. Among his many contributions, Frank also endowed chairs at Texas Tech and Baylor and served on the journalism advisory boards for the University of Texas and Texas A&M.
In 1979, Sue was an executive vice president for Frank Mayborn Enterprises. After the couple married in 1981, she undertook progressively greater roles in the company. Following Frank’s death in 1987, she became president/owner of Mayborn Enterprises and remains an active leader of it and its subsidiaries, which include newspapers in Killeen and Temple, KCEN-TV [until selling in 2009], a real estate company, a working farm with registered red Brangus cattle and the Mayborn Foundation.
To further journalism education, Mayborn established master’s level scholarships in journalism at Baylor, Texas Tech, UT-Tyler and the University of North Texas, now also the home of the Mayborn Graduate Institute and the Frank W. and Sue Mayborn School of Journalism. Sue’s involvement with Baylor began through Frank’s friendship with U.S. Rep. William R. Poage, BA '21, LLB '24. In 1978, Frank led the fundraising campaign for the W.R. Poage Legislative Library at Baylor while Sue focused on the Poage-Mayborn Washington Seminar and Internship Endowed Program, which the Mayborn Foundation permanently endowed in 2007.
Reserved and intentional, Sue holds high ideals of integrity in business and community service. A native of Oklahoma, she graduated from Gatesville High School and Temple Junior College and attended Baylor and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, where she now serves on the Board of Trustees. Sue is a member of Memorial Baptist Church in Temple.
Sue is a Baylor Alumna Honoris Causa and recipient of The Herbert Reynolds Service Award. She played a major role in the building of The Sue & Frank Mayborn Natural Science and Cultural History Museum Complex at Baylor, which opened in 2004, bringing together Baylor’s popular Strecker Collection and Ollie Mae Moen Discovery Center. She recently established the Sue Mayborn Endowed Scholarship Fund and the Sue Mayborn Building Fund.
