Posthumus Celebration Remembers Alfredine J. Wiley as a Lifelong Educator, Friend, and Role Model, AKA

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...