NEWS
“Mother” of Alpha Phi Alpha Gets New
Grave Marker
ANNIE C. SINGLETON, the mother of Alpha Phi Alpha, was honored in a solemn ceremony at her gravesite Nov. 16, at the Forest Lawn Cemetery and Garden Mausoleums in Buffalo, N.Y. Brothers from around the country came to dedicate a new headstone for her grave, which now includes her historic title as the “mother” of the fraternity. Attending, to help rededicate her memory, were Brothers Christopher Alexander, Eastern Region assistant vice president, who presided over the ceremony; Dane Burke, president of Rho Lambda Chapter in Buffalo, N.Y.; Raymond Dalton, historian for the New York Association of Chapters of Alpha; Lucien Metellus, New York district director; Sean McCaskill, Eastern Region vice resident; Herman “Skip” Mason, Jr., general president of the fraternity; and attorney Anthony “Tony” Haywood, the great-nephew of Singleton and the grandson of 19th General President Myles A. Paige. H
Remarks of Julian Anthony “Tony” Haywood on the Dedication of the New Grave Marker of Annie C. Singleton November 16, 2011 • Buffalo, New York “PRESIDENT MASON, Mayor Brown, and distinguished brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.: It is my honor to convey the sincere greetings, blessings and appreciation of the descendants of the late honorable Myles A. Paige—my maternal grandfather, the nephew of Annie C. Singleton, and your 19th general president. They are my mother, Virginia Elizabeth Paige Haywood, my aunt, Barbara Paige Randall, my first cousin Karen Randall, and her children, my grandfather’s great-grandchildren Randall Scott Hines and Paige Hines. I also convey greetings from my cousin The 19th general president Honorable James Shaw, the nephew of Myles Paige, and Myles A.Paige with greatgrandson Julian Anthony great nephew of Annie Singleton. Haywood, c. 1967. I never had the opportunity to meet the woman my grandfather called “Aunt Anna,” and [who] the brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha know affectionately as “Mother of Alpha” for the role she played in supporting the efforts of the Seven Jewels in bringing the fraternity to life. She was the younger sister of my great-grandmother Laura Coleman Paige. Their mother Sidney was a so-called “free person of color,” an indentured servant of Native-American ancestry before the Emancipation, who had six children. Like my grandfather and his parents, Myles and Laura, Anna Coleman was born in Alabama. She attended school in North Carolina and became a nurse. She lived and worked in Ithaca, of course, and later Ohio and Buffalo. By all accounts, she was a woman of strong will, generous and caring, but no wilting flower. As my cousin James Shaw recalls, “she would not hesitate to tell people off.” In her later years, she was looked after by her niece, my grandfather’s sister, Ruth Paige Hall. Knowing how much my grandfather loved his Aunt Anna, and how deeply devoted he was to his beloved Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, I am supremely confident that Myles A. Paige would be very gratified by the abiding affection Alpha shows for Annie Singleton, including through today’s dedication of a new grave marker bearing her designation as the “Mother” of Alpha Phi Alpha. If indeed he is looking down on us today, I am certain that my grandfather is smiling broadly and that brings his descendants great satisfaction and joy. Thank you for the opportunity to deliver these remarks and to be with you today.
Brothers and guests at the dedication of the new headstone for Annie C. Singleton in Buffalo, N.Y.
12 THE SPHINX H Fall 2011