Jane G Steele

COLUMBIA - Wilmoth Jane Gill Steele was born in Greenville - Patterson, Missouri, July 27, 1920. Her parents Irvin Monroe Gill and Clara Cozy Schlater Gill raised Jane with her sisters Polly and Mary, and brothers Monroe and Bill. In 1940, she married Harold McIlroy Steele. She began raising her first son Bob while living with Harold's mother and sister in Cape Girardeau, MO, as Harold spent the harrowing WWII years as a combat sergeant with the 2nd Army at Normandy through the Battle of the Bulge and the surrender. Her second son Bill was born in 1947.

In 1950, Harold accepted the job of head federal game agent for South Carolina, following the demise of his predecessor (apparently killed in the swamps by irate illegal liquor still owners!) In Columbia, though raised Methodist, Jane took her two boys each Sunday to Rosewood Baptist Church, which could be walked to from their rented house on Rosewood Drive. Though born in Missouri, Jane became a Columbian once she came to love the taste of boiled peanuts and sweet tea. Raised in rural setting, she very much enjoyed the Farmers' Market, first on Assembly, and then by the Fairgrounds. Her husband and boys enjoyed wonderful home-cooked meals every day. Harold and Jane bought a house at 3603 Yale Ave. in the Rosewood-Shandon area in the early 1960's. Both boys attended Rosewood Elem., Hand Jr. High and Dreher H.S., then earned degrees at U.S.C. Jane worked for many years as the pbx "Voice of Belks" at both the downtown and Columbia Mall locations.

Bob married Linda Boulware, also a member of Rosewood Baptist Church, and they eventually lived in Oahu, Hawaii. Bill taught public school for many years, and now lives in Los Angeles with his partner of many years, Raymond Wright Rix, a Francophile native of New Orleans. Harold died suddenly in 1973. Thereafter, Jane found great comfort with her neighbor and best friend Del Lamb, as well as her many friends from Rosewood Baptist Church and elsewhere in Columbia.

She loved dogs, kids, birds and flowers. Joy in simple everyday quiet things was the hallmark of her personality. She strove, and with little need of effort, never to say anything negative about anyone, and never to complain about herself. In these ways, she exemplified a wisdom much admired by those who loved and appreciated her.

Her husband had a pilot's license and flew duck counts. He much enjoyed citing game law-breaking judges, lawyers and preachers, but was respected as a fair man. Jane's father had been a farmer, and then proprietor of a Shell Gas Station, with an Ice House! Jane's younger brother served on the atomic submarine Seadragon, and was on the crew when it sailed beneath the North Pole in 1960. Her older son worked in radar in the Air Force, and then joined Hewlett-Packard in computers. Her younger son once had 13 cats!

Jane though, was a great patron of the Culinary Products Arts. She initially supported the famed A&P on Devine St., but later broadened her support to such institutions as Publix, Bi-Lo, even Fresh Market, and of course that jewel of the Shandon, The Pig. She had deep satisfaction from her near daily visits to the museum-quality aisles of these palaces of commerce. They all thank her.

Her long life was full of color, and she was an exemplar of simple quiet dignity. She is survived by her sister Mary Gill Berryman of Cape Girardeau, her son William "Bill" Steele of Los Angeles, her daughter-in-law Linda E. Boulware Steele Collison (Ray) of Wildwood, and four grandchildren, Christopher Kevin Steele of Columbia, Jennifer Janelle Steele Vanderslice (Mark) of Aiken, Kenny Collison of Columbia, and Karen Collison of Mount Pleasant, SC; two great-grandchildren, Scottlyn and Dylan Vanderslice of Aiken. She is much missed by family and friends, as well as the birds, dogs and local grocers.

In lieu of flowers, donations will be welcomed at either the SPCA Columbia, or the Carolina Bird Club www.carolinabirdclub.org/dues/.