In Memoriam

Dr. Annamarie Booz Burts, Northwestern

ri Delta was saddened to learn of the passing of Dr. Annamarie Booz Burts, Northwestern, on Aug. 29, 2021, at age 104. She served Tri Delta as our first traveling secretary (now known as chapter development consultant) in 1939.

Annamarie attended Mt. Holyoke College and received her bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, where she joined Tri Delta’s Upsilon Chapter. She went on to receive her Master of Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and her doctorate in education from Columbia University.

She would go on to work for universities across the U.S., along with her husband whom she met in her graduate program at Columbia. They devoted their lives in service to their family, their college students, their church and their community. A longtime academic, at 101 years old Annamarie was highlighted in the Greenville Journal in 2018 for reading to her fellow retirement home residents.

Tri Delta mourns the loss of Lea Lea Brown on Dec. 8, 2021. Lea Lea joined Tri Delta at the University of Tennessee and was the youngest women’s golf champion at Cherokee Country Club in Knoxville. Following her time at UT, Lea Lea played golf professionally for seven years on the LPGA Tour.

When she retired from professional golf, she opened The Golf House, the first retail golf store in the East outside of private club golf shops. After selling the store, she entered the baking industry, founding Women in Baking, an organization that recognized and supported women moving up in the industry.

Her later career days were spent first managing Judy Argo, a widely popular cabaret singer and recording artist, and then as a broker in mortgage banking. Lea Lea excelled in the mortgage industry, developing many lasting friendships through her dedication to her repeat clients over the years.

Lea Lea was a passionate animal lover, rescuer and caretaker throughout her life. She rescued hundreds of dogs and cats and gave them forever homes with her compassionate love and care. She felt this was her mission, paying it forward for these animals who had no voice of their own.

Lea Lea Brown, Tennessee

Joan Didion, California/Berkeley

istinguished Delta, journalist and novelist Joan Didion passed away on Dec. 23, 2021, at the age of 87. Joan launched her writing career in the 1960s after winning an essay contest sponsored by Vogue magazine, eventually becoming an associate features editor for the magazine. Her writing during the 1960s through the late 1970s engaged audiences in the realities of the counterculture of the 1960s and the Hollywood lifestyle, and her political writing often concentrated on the subtext of political and social rhetoric.

In addition to articles she wrote for magazines like Life, Esquire and the Saturday Evening Post, she also published several novels, including “Run, River,” “A Book of Common Prayer” and “Democracy.” She and her late husband, novelist John Gregory Dunne, collaborated on several screenplays, including the successful 1976 remake of “A Star Is Born.”

In 2005, Joan won the National Book Award for Nonfiction and was a finalist for both the National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize for her memoir “The Year of Magical Thinking,” which chronicles the year following her husband’s death during which time she was also caring for her ill daughter. She later adapted the book into a play, which premiered on Broadway in 2007 starring Vanessa Redgrave. In 2017, she was profiled in the documentary on Netflix “The Center Will Not Hold,” directed by her nephew Griffin Dunne.

Lynn Biggs Jenkins, Vanderbilt

ynn Biggs Jenkins died peacefully at home on June 10, 2022, following a courageous battle with cancer. She was 74 years old.

Lynn joined Tri Delta at Vanderbilt University, serving as pledge trainer (now known as director of first year experience) during her senior year. She graduated in 1969. Her entire professional career was spent at the Merrill Lynch office in Jackson, Mississippi, where, as an account executive, she had the distinction of being the first female stock broker in the state of Mississippi. Her nephew Jack Allin, who serves as Tri Delta Housing’s lead architect at Wier Boerner Allin, shares that Lynn exemplified Tri Delta's values for the entirety of her life and found much delight in knowing that Tri Delta was one of his clients.

Lynn served as a trustee for the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi and was an active communicant, lay reader and choir member. She was a sustaining member of the Junior League of Jackson as well as a member of various luncheon clubs.