My father, Albert Don Steele, was born November 6, 1920, near Percy, Randolph County, Illinois. His parents were Richard Robinson Steele and Elizabeth Euradica Carpenter. His mother told me that he was her smallest baby, weighing only 6 pounds; his twin brother, Alvin, weighed 6-1/2 pounds. The twins were her 3rd birth - having 1st, Florence, 2nd Murrell, the twins 3rd, followed by Archie, John, David, and Mildred. The family is all present and accounted for in the 1930 census of Percy, Illinois. By 1940, Florence and Murrell have moved away - while the rest of the family are still in Percy. Dad told me that he was baptized in 1934 in Blackstump, Illinois. I don't know what church he joined, but I know his mother was a Bible reading Christian. He moved to St Louis, Missouri, when he was 18 years old, having never completed high school. He worked at an automobile dealer as a mechanic. Mom and Dad were married in St Charles, Missouri, on August 30, 1942. She was more than 2 years older than he was and always said that when they met he was too young, and she had to wait for him to grow up! At some point he joined the Merchant Marines, where he served as a longshoreman until he enlisted on January 7, 1943, and served in the Army/Army Air Corps through the end of the war. During the war he worked with radar equipment and was stationed in England and France. He traveled to Paris and into Germany before returning home at the end of World War II. Because Dad suffered from 'hay fever' he was encouraged to move to Arizona. They moved to Phoenix in 1946. He got a job driving Greyhound Bus, and they bought their first house. He worked for Salt River Project setting power poles. When they learned that Mom was pregnant they bought a bigger new Skaggs-built home where they would live for the rest of his life. He was a truck driver and transport supervisor for Rainbow Bread for most of my childhood. Dad suffered from a duodenal ulcer and had emergency surgery to stop bleeding in 1965. They removed 52% of his stomach and the duodenal valve. He went from the 200 plus pound, physically strong man I remember, to a man who weighed about 165 or less and had to lie down for 20 minutes after every meal for the rest of his life. He worked for his brother, David, or Dave Steele Drywall, building and remodeling homes. Dad died on March 24, 1999, in Phoenix, Arizona. He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery in Phoenix.

Military Information: TEC 5, US ARMY