74 TH LAUREL WREATH LAUREATE
To my Kappa and life. I became aware of Kappa at Norfolk State University which had not allowed any fraternities or sororities on that university campus until 1962. And, a person who has become my second father, Dr. Roy Alex- ander Woods, a Kappa man called me into his office and said, 'Little brother, I think you ought to pledge Kappa.' I said, 'Dr. Woods, I wanted to pledge Kappa so bad, but I don’t have any money.' He said, 'Did I say anything to you about money? When the time comes, you step into my of- fice.' I went into his office and I remember it just like it was yesterday. My dearly departed surrogate father, Dr. Woods, is respon- sible for my being a Kappa man today. To my brothers at Epsilon Zeta, my brothers in Cleveland (OH) Alumni, Akron (OH) Alumni, Columbus (OH) Alumni, Cincinnati (OH) Alumni, and even Danville (VA) Alumni—all my brothers have made me what I am here today. Finally, I was on a program in my hometown of Portsmouth, Virginia with Alex Haley. Alex said to me, 'Julian, my daddy used to say to me, 'Boy, if you see a turtle sitting on top a fence post you know it had some help.'' So, I will tell you about the help I received from my bride of over 55 years, Zenobia. Now let me tell you the story. Zenobia and I got married in our sophomore year at Norfolk State. I had no degree, no permanent job. People told me, 'Boy, you have no nothin.' Two years later, when I finished Norfolk State and headed on to the University of Rochester, we had our first-born son. We decided that Zenobia would not interrupt her career and she stayed at Norfolk State and completed her undergraduate degree before joining me at the University of Rochester. Years later, we decided I would go to the University of Michigan and out at NASA in Cleveland. Years after that, we decided I would go on to Harvard Business School. By that time we had two sons. And, we decided that Zenobia would not interrupt her career as a Cleveland schoolteacher. So, she stayed in Cleveland, taking care of two sons while I got home as many weekends as possible. You know the routine. She would get up in the morning, make sure that they got dressed, fix breakfast for them, take one off to daycare, another off to school, go teach a full day of school herself, reverse that process in the afternoon. Come home, throw off her coat, kick off her shoes, fix dinner for them, and after dinner, see to it that they completed their home- work. And after they were in bed, take care of her other 36 children—her students by correcting papers.
borrow from Gladys Knight and-the-used-to-be-Pips, if you will...If anyone should ever write my life story, oh for whatever reason there might be, Zenobia would be there, between each line of pain and glory because she is the best thing that ever happened to me. I’ll tell you this, I didn’t realize how much she had done for me until she went to graduate school and I was stuck with those two...the lady should be canonized. So I describe Zenobia, my bride, as a woman who has the creative intellect of Mme. CJ Walker, the perspicacity of Mary McLeod Bethune, the determination of Harriet Tubman, the classic beauty of Queen Nefertiti. I will tell you this, she is not only the wind beneath my wings, Zenobia is the chocolate chips in my cookie.
She did that all so I could achieve. So everywhere I go, I
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