Obituary of Rosa Steptoe

Rosa Jane Jordan Steptoe was born January 8, 1937 in Jackson, LA, to the late Eddie Jordan, Sr., and the late Susie Jordan. She accepted God as her Lord and Savior at an early age and was baptized at McKowen Baptist Church, where she worshipped with her parents and siblings. Rosa graduated from John Dawson High School in 1954 and enrolled in Southern University in Baton Rouge in the fall of that year. The years at Southern were intellectually enriching for Rosa, who was a diligent student. She chose a liberal arts curriculum and majored in Social Studies, maintaining a high grade point average as she pursued her keen interest in American and Louisiana history. Her elective coursework exposed her to literature, poetry, and classical music, and she maintained a lifelong interest in them. Rosa met classmate Eldridge Willie “E.W.” Steptoe, Jr., at a football game and a romance blossomed. She graduated from Southern in 1958 and earned a certification in Elementary Education the following year. Rosa and E.W. were married in 1959 and moved to Lutcher, in St. James Parish, where they embarked on careers in education and would spend the next 30 years. While living in Lutcher, Rosa gave birth and, with E.W., raised two daughters, Sonja and Natasha. Rosa taught fifth grade in the St. James Parish School System until her retirement, first at Central Elementary and, later, at Paulina Elementary. She passed along her love of Louisiana history to her students, organizing field trips each year to the old and new State Capitols, the old and new Governor’s mansions, and the Art and Science Museum in Baton Rouge, as well as the Louisiana State Museum Cabildo, Jackson Square, and St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. Over the course of her teaching career, she advised dozens of students in preparing for various competitions. She did the same for Sonja and Natasha, helping them create award-winning speeches and Science and Social Studies projects for parish, regional, state, and, in Natasha’s case, International, competitions. Her daughters’ academic and professional success was a special point of pride for Rosa. At home, Rosa was an avid collector, and prolific cook, seamstress, and gardener. E.W. and the girls especially enjoyed her homemade seafood dishes, barbecue beans, candied yams, 7-Up pound cake, and pecan candy. She sewed many of the clothes that she and her daughters wore. Rosa inherited her Mother’s green thumb, growing and nurturing assorted varieties of ivies, cacti, roses, azaleas, tulips, and lilies in her home and her outdoor flower garden. Perhaps her most prized plants of all were the African violets she raised and gave away to friends and family over the years. She was equally proud of her collection of commemorative and decorative bells that fill a large curio cabinet in her home. While living in Lutcher, and after she retired and relocated with E.W. to a home on a pond in Liberty, MS, Rosa maintained close ties to her family. She visited them on weekends, at holiday time, and to help organize reunions. During retirement she also traveled widely in the US and enjoyed two memorable trips to Europe. Rosa moved to Suwanee, GA in 2012, after becoming a widow, to be closer to Natasha and her husband, Charles Collins, and their two boys, Charles III “Trey” and Jordan. Rosa loved babysitting, attending school activities and graduations, cheering at soccer games and swim meets, taking vacations, and celebrating birthdays and holidays with them. She also enjoyed attending services with them at Hopewell Missionary Baptist in Norcross, which became her church home in Georgia. When Rosa’s health began to decline in 2015, Sonja relocated to Suwanee to share caregiving duties with Natasha. On Friday, December 31, the Lord called his faithful daughter to rest and Rosa passed away in her home, with Sonja and Natasha at her bedside. Rosa is preceded in death by her parents; her siblings Thomas, Berthella, Willie, Dorothy, and Susie; and her husband. She is survived by her daughters Sonja of Suwanee, GA, and Natasha (Charles) of Duluth, GA; grandsons Trey and Jordan; and brothers Eddie Jordan, Jr., of Zachary, LA and Edward Charles “E.C.” Jordan (Rena) of Sugarland, TX, along with aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.an