Olga M Steele's Obituary
Olga Mae Walls Steele was born May 20, 1927 in Detroit, Michigan to Henry
Wesley Walls and Lucy Marion Kimp Walls. Her mother named her Olga after a
friend she greatly admired for her talent in music, dance, and the arts. She
wanted her new baby girl to have her friend Olga’s talent so she gave her the
name Olga. It turned out to be the perfect name for a woman who spent her
entire life performing and promoting the arts: music, dance, theatre, painting,
and crafts. From the time Olga started talking her favorite words were “let’s play
program,” as programs were weekly routines in the Walls household.
Like many African American families in Detroit, piano lessons were as
mandatory as reading, writing, and arithmetic. The first piece of furniture in the
Walls home was a piano while the family literally sat on an old shoe shine stand
Papa (her father) used during the Great Depression. That’s how much music
meant to the Walls Family; it was as essential as food. Olga and her two younger
sisters, Ruby and Jean, were teenagers when they formed an acapella singing
group and began performing around the city as the Walls Sisters. Later, they
were joined by their older sister, Clara, who added her brilliant piano flourish to
the trio.
Olga played cello and bass in Northwestern’s High School Band and graduated
in 1945. Two years later she married her high school sweetheart, Clifford Steele
Jr., a football star and pre-med student at the University of Detroit, on June 1,
1947. A year later they gave birth to their first child Shirley Anne (nka Nubia),
Clifford Wesley seventeen months later and Tina Marie in 1961. In between being
a housewife and raising her children, she was also raising another generation of
children when she worked for Parks & Recreation and taught tap dance, modern
dance, square dance and crafts to hundreds of children and adults at Wingert
School. Wingert’s Tap Dancers won several city awards thanks to Olga’s
choreography. She also served her community as a founding member of the
Leslie Block Club Association and helped it become one of the most active block
clubs in the city.
After completing her bachelor’s degree in Education from Wayne State
University in 1958, Olga became an elementary school teacher for Detroit Public
Schools for twenty-nine years. At every school she carried her mantra of “let’s
play program,” with her, organizing each school’s annual concerts and musical
programs until she retired.
In 1971 she was baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and began another
level of teaching--the Truth of the Holy Bible to all who would listen. During her
fifty-two years as a Witness she always had a zealous share in the Bible education
work serving for many years as a pioneer.
Olga and Clifford never regretted their relocation to Florida in 1990 after
Clifford retired. They were warmly welcomed by the Jehovah’s Witness
community in Deltona and quickly made a life for themselves in the sunshine
state. Unfortunately, Olga lost her beloved husband of forty-six years in 1993.
The relocation and retirement in Florida marked the beginning of a new season
of “let’s play program,” planning and performing sing-alongs, music and dance
concerts and founding the singing and dance quartet Melody-N-Motion. Olga
played piano, bass, sang, danced, and taught tap dance into her nineties.
Love of her Creator, life, music, and dance pervaded every facet of her life, the
way she taught, the way she directed, the way she cooked and gardened and
loved. What could be more beautiful than a lifetime of "making a joyful noise
unto the Lord" and passing the musical legacy to descendants she had borne and
descendants of her heart. We are honored and blessed to have had this
remarkable woman for a mother.
She is survived by her children Nubia Kai, Clifford Wesley Steele, daughter-in-
law Stephanie Steele, Tina Marie Rose (Glenn Rose, deceased), grandchildren
Malia Salaam-Cisse, (Kafani Cisse), Wesley Steele (Taylia Steele), Nicole Rose-
Peadick (Jonathan Peadick), William Rose (Kate Rose), Alexander Rose (Cari Rose),
and great grandchildren Khari Osaze Steeple and Slade Christopher Steele, a sister
Jean Leonard (Kenneth Leonard) and brother-in-law Edsel Steele and a host of
nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.
Orange City Congregation is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: Olga Steele Memorial
Time: Mar 11, 2023 12:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) (Visitation & Video Presentation)
1:00 PM Eastern Time (Memorial Talk)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81234776343
Meeting ID: 812 3477 6343
Passcode: Steele
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What’s your fondest memory of Olga?
What’s a lesson you learned from Olga?
Share a story where Olga's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Olga you’ll never forget.
How did Olga make you smile?