LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER
Roommates and Delta Sigma Theta sorority sisters Veronica Brown and Margaret Menefee graduated together May 9, mirroring their mothers’ UT experience as friends and founding members of Delta.
Their mothers, Debra Powe Brown (’76 advertising) and Mabel Clay Menefee (’77 journalism), met at UT and were among the charter members when the Mu Zeta chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. was founded in Knoxville in 1974.
Margaret Brown’s dad, Herb, also is a UT grad, and the family home is in Memphis.
Since they graduated in the spring, Veronica and Margaret have been separated by career plans. Veronica majored in biochemistry and cellular and molecular biology and plans to pursue a graduate degree. She lives in Knoxville. Margaret followed in her mother’s footsteps with a major in communications. She lives in Houston and aspires to be a television broadcaster.
Pug Fuller (’72, ’73 education) of Knoxville became friends with the mothers, Mabel and Debra, while all were UT students. He also was a friend and fraternity brother of Herb Brown. Fuller marvels at the coincidence of mothers and their daughters following so closely in the same path.
“As I sat in Thompson-Boling Arena on Friday, May 9, I witnessed a miracle,” Fuller said. “Margaret and Veronica graduated on the same day. We celebrated their graduation at the Magnolia Café together on the same day. The odds of this storyline falling into place the way it did are astronomical!”
Originally published in August 2008 eTorch
