By Cody Yarbrough, Contributing Writer
There is no better gauge of a person’s legacy than the number of people who go out of their way to pay their respects after you’ve passed on. When a packed-out venue of people, both old and young, travel from far-off places just to gather in your memory. When person after person steps to a podium to tell their stories about how you changed their lives and saved them from a dark future. When politicians, both local and national, acknowledge the years of hard work you’ve put in to help other people. It then can be said without any shade of doubt that your legacy is worthy of honor.
The life of Alfredine J. Wiley carries such a legacy. On September 14th, on what would have been her 84th birthday, people from all over the country flocked to Detroit to pay their respects to a woman who dedicated her life to education and helping young people. Put together by her two daughters, Lillian Wiley Samuel and Jennifer Wiley, the event was held eight months after her passing in accordance with her wish to have a private funeral for her family and close friends and a public memorial for the many others who would want to say their goodbyes.
North Carolina was her birthplace, but for her memorial, the only conceivable location it could be held in was Detroit. For more than 20 years, she served the city’s youth as Cass Technical High School’s Guidance Department Head. During her tenure, she developed initiatives to help students formulate their career goals, find scholarships, access summer programs, and connect with colleges. Even after her retirement from education, Wiley continued to help students by awarding scholarships through her foundation.
Her love for the city and its people was just as potent as any native Detroiter’s. Coming from and quieter environment down in North Carolina, the buzzing energy of mid-century Motown captivated her in a way that would change her life forever. And according to her daughters, her love for the city drove her to work hard for the future of its children.
“When she first came [to Detroit] as a student at Wayne State University, she said it was her New York.” Lillian Wiley Samuel told us about it at the event. “All the glitz, the glamour, the fashion, she said that it was just like nothing she had ever seen before. She was so captivated with Detroit. She loved Detroit. You would think she was born and bred here the way she loved Detroit. She was also a pillar with young people all over the Detroit Metro area. Giving out scholarships, bringing them back to the theater, taking us to the opera, starting AKA teens.”
Jennifer Wiley then chimes in. “Which was the largest AKA teens chapter in the country. The first college tour in the country to take young people to Black college tours in the early eighties. She established the AKA Foundation of Detroit, the first foundation of the chapter here. And they bought a building for Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority that is still in existence today under her leadership.”
Along with her work in the education system, Wiley was a major figure in the Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority. Since pledging to the organization during her time studying at Wayne State University, she treated her sorority sisters as blood siblings and the AKA foundation as her actual family. And like family, AKAs from all over came dressed head to toe in brilliant white with pristine pearls resting on their neck. Pink and green flowers accompanied the pictures of young Wiley as a fresh member of a Divine nine sorority. Even the text in the booklet detailing her life’s story bore the tulip pink color of her beloved, AKA. Yet despite how much the organization meant to her, it seems to pale in comparison to how much she meant to those in the organization.
“This event means everything to me.” International Regional Director Carrie J. Clark stated while attending the memorial. “Because it’s recognizing someone who has given so much back to the community, to her sorority, to other organizations, and to young adults that she doesn’t even know.
This is not the last act in recognizing her for all of her good deeds. But it’s a way for us to come together and make sure that we are paying homage to someone that is so important to all of us. It’s a very special event, and it’s a happy occasion. The goal is to keep her legacy alive, and this is the beginning of that.”
Throughout the memorial, Wiley’s legacy is recounted by close friends and family. Many spoke about her accomplishments, but the majority of those in attendance remembered her as a counselor during hard times, a mentor in moments of confusion, and a great friend from the good old days. Amidst the outpouring of remembrance, a series of letters from various government officials were read aloud. Condolences were sent in from the Mayoral office of Mike Duggan, the Governor’s seat of Gretchen Whitmer, and even the Presidential desk of Joe Biden, recognizing Wiley and all she accomplished in her life.
The reach of Wiley’s efforts cannot be overstated. As her daughter Jennifer explained, “So many people we haven’t seen in like 30 years are coming to us like, ‘Your mother’s the reason why I went to college!’ ‘Your mother’s the reason why I’m a doctor!’ ‘Your mother’s the reason why I’m doing what I’m doing now!’ Former students have flown from all over the country to be here. We’ve talked to people from North Carolina, Philadelphia, D. C., California, Vegas, have flown just to be here.”
Despite her passing, the good works of Alfredine J Wiley will continue. As it stands now, her two daughters have taken control of their mother’s foundation and are planning to continue helping Detroit students. According to them, the best way to continue her legacy is to help people in the same ways that she did during her life. And as the legacy her legacy thrives after her time on earth, so does a piece of their mother.
Lilian explained to us, “We’re collecting funds right now to give a scholarship in her honor to a graduating senior in 2025. That’s the start of keeping her legacy alive. I was talking to someone here today who’s contributed to the scholarship every year that we’ve had it and she said, ‘I want to help you guys keep it going forever.’”
“Like we keep saying, it’s a living legacy.” Jennifer added, “We all carry the legacy within us. It lives because it lives in us. She touched so many lives. Look how many people are here. She passed in February, but so many people felt it necessary to be here on a beautiful day in Detroit, one of the last summer days of Detroit to be here to honor her. Through her being a leader and being a visionary, she showed us all how to do that in our lives. So her legacy lives on.”