Mrs. Steele was born in Alabama from a family of 13 children. Of her siblings, nine are still alive, three of her sisters live in Cleveland. Her other siblings are spread throughout the South: her baby sister lives in Tennessee; one sister and two brothers live in Alabama and her baby brother lives in Florida. Her brother comes to see her but she does not go to Florida; however, all the surviving siblings are in close contact, and she visits regularly with her sisters in Cleveland. It was, in fact, Mrs. Steele’s siblings who encouraged her to move to Cleveland when she was 34.

Although Mrs. Steele is married, her husband lives in Alabama. While they have a legal separation, they have never divorced. She had five children, four of whom are still alive. They lived in Cleveland for a while and then moved to Alabama because they like it better. Of her fifteen grandchildren, and 14 or 15 great-grandchildren, several live in Cleveland, the remainder in Alabama.

She came to Cleveland with her relatives. Many of her nephews, nieces, great-nephews, great-nieces, and even some great- great- nieces and nephews live in Cleveland. Thus, she has a large and relatively close-knit family support network nearby. She spends time with them; they pick her up and she spends the weekend with them and sometimes they spend the weekend with her in her apartment. They stayed with her last weekend.