In Memoriam
To honor the memories of our dearly departed sisters, Mu Sigma Upsilon created the Bellatrix Chapter. When we lose a sister, she becomes part of the Bellatrix Chapter while always remaining a sister of the chapter in which she pledged. Bellatrix is the star on the shoulder of Orion, its name Latin for the woman warrior — a fitting light for sisters who lived as Amazons, and a place to look for the women we love among the stars.
We remember each of them by name — forever of her chapter, forever of Bellatrix.
An honest and trustworthy friend devoted to her family and her community, Lucy excelled in her studies, earned her degree, and remained active within the sisterhood. She was only twenty-seven when she passed, among the first sisters Mu Sigma Upsilon would mourn, and in 1997 the MSU Alumnae Association established the Lucy Dipini Memorial Scholarship in her honor — still awarded to collegiate sisters today.
A sister of the Matriarca Chapter, Linda is remembered with love by those who knew her and held among the cherished women of Bellatrix.
A sister for twenty-five years, Danielle earned her B.A. in History at Rutgers and led its Amazona Chapter as Co-Cacique and then Cacique, later earning a J.D. from Capital University Law School and practicing probate and family law in Chicago. In 2004 she led the proposal that created the Aretias Graduate Chapter, choosing the name Aretias for its deep ties to MSU’s history and symbolism, and in 2014 she joined the National Governing Council as Officer of Risk Management, going on to help revive the Amazona Chapter in 2016. Proudly Trinidadian and a world traveler who gathered her loved ones for Carnival, she defended what she cared about so fiercely that her fellow board members fondly called her “our pitbull”; after her passing in September 2018, the graduate chapter’s scholarship was renamed the Danielle N. Smith Aretias Graduate Scholarship in her honor.
Known lovingly to many as “AD,” Adriana graduated from Montclair State University in 2009 and earned a nursing degree at New Jersey City University, becoming a critical care nurse. Those who loved her remember a joyful, outgoing spirit, full of life, who could light up any room she entered. She was lost in a tragic accident on May 5, 2019.
More than a sister, Omelly was a light — a source of strength and a beautiful soul who touched everyone blessed to know her. She became a sister of the Siksika Chapter in Spring 2020 at William Paterson University, where she served as chapter President and Vice President of the Student Activities Programming Board, gave countless hours to community service, and kept a GPA above 3.5 in the University Honors College. Honored with the Roland Watts Pioneer Spirit Award for the pride she instilled across campus, Omelly lives on in the love she gave, the lives she touched, and the sisterhood she helped strengthen.
Three of these sisters’ names live on in scholarships that help fund the next generation of Mu Sigma Upsilon women — the Lucy Dipini Memorial Scholarship, the Danielle N. Smith Aretias Graduate Scholarship, and the Omelly Dominguez Scholarship — so that what they gave their sisterhood is carried forward by women they will never meet.
