Sorority sisters honor Aretha Franklin

Soon after the doors closed Tuesday for the first public viewing for Aretha Franklin, more than 700 mourners gathered to offer another farewell. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority members hosted a memorial service at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History to commemorate the singer. Franklin was initiated as an honorary member of the sorority on June 5, 1992, in New York City, group officials said. “She demanded respect as a woman in America,” U.S. Rep. Brenda Lawrence told the hundreds gathered for the ceremony. “… What a message and example she showed.” The gathering was an "Omega Omega" tribute, or funerary event held to commemorate the life of deceased members. It's a rite of passage among the few that the sorority opens to the public, said Beverly Smith, Delta Sigma Theta’s national president. While standing in the row near a floral bouquet, Lawrence recalled how Franklin was an avid reader and political observer who reached out after her election as Southfield’s first female African-American mayor. And though she was known as a “national treasure,” Franklin remained proud of her city roots, Lawrence said. “She was a Detroit girl.”