From Left, Susan Cobb Branan,
Ashley Claire Branan, Leonard Cobb,
Marjorie Cobb
One University of Georgia senior had decided while still in high school that she would not attend UGA, but ended up a third generation alumni legacy.
Ashley Claire Branan of Washington, Georgia felt she should go away to college. Athens was too near, forty miles, and her grandparents lived here.
An excellent student — Salutatorian of her high school class, she had her choice of colleges, so she began visiting other campuses. She discovered, however, that “none of them compared to Georgia.”
She then enrolled in UGA’s School of Family and Consumer Sciences, following in the steps of her mother, Susan Cobb Branan ‘76, and her grandmother, Marjorie Malcom Cobb ‘49, both of whom majored in Home Economics.
Ashley has never regretted her choice. She has maintained an enviable GPA while becoming involved in student leadership. She has served as an Ambassador for her school for two years, served as a legislative aide at the state capital, and is president of the Student Association of Consumer and Family Sciences.
In addition, she has been unusually successful in her part-time job as a salesman for Mary Kay Cosmetics. She is one of the company’s top sales persons and has earned the use of an automobile. The company has been so pleased that they have made her a full-time sales director — a position she will assume upon graduation this Spring. She is excited because she shares Mary Kay’s philosophy: “We’re not just selling cosmetics, we’re changing lives.”
Ashley is proud of her legacy — maintaining the family’s allegiance to UGA. Her mother enjoyed a remarkably successful career with the UGA Extension Service before retiring last year. Her grandmother had worked with the Extension Service in her early years.
Her grandfather, Leonard Cobb ‘50, is retired from UGA Food Services where he served as manager for the McWhorter Hall Cafeteria — providing meals for Bulldog athletes.
Ashley also has two aunts, Melanie Cobb Parsons ‘80, and Lyn Cobb Ellerbee ‘83, who are UGA alumnae and who both married University of Georgia graduates.
The Cobbs count eight UGA alumni in their immediate family and any time the family gets together, it’s a Bulldog alumni meeting of sorts.
