ANNA BELLE STEPP, who celebrates her 100th birthday tomorrow, July 31, was married to Edward Grant Stepp Sr. She is pictured with their children, Tanya Givens and Ed Stepp Jr., at the wedding of Tanya’s son. (Photo submitted)
HER CENTURY OF LIFE has been about family. Anna Belle Stepp moved to Woodford County because “I married a guy from Versailles,” she said. It’s where Anna Belle and Edward Grant Stepp Sr. raised their children, Tanya Givens and Ed Stepp Jr. (Photo submitted)
By Bob Vlach
Woodford Sun Staff
Sundays at Anna Belle Stepp’s home have always been about family.
Beginning with church services in the morning and dinner with family at her house, “you hang out until it’s time to go home and go to bed,” granddaughter Whitney Stepp said. “And she never wants us to go home.”
That’s because during a life spanning 100 years, Anna Belle has always valued family, continuing traditions and sharing family history with each other.
“I love them and we’ve got to be together,” said Anna Belle.
Woodford County became a part of her life, she said, because “I married a guy from Versailles.” It’s where she and Edward Grant Stepp Sr., who died in 1989, raised their two children, Tanya Givens and Ed Stepp Jr. (Whitney’s dad).
“Our family is unconditionally close,” said Whitney. So when there are disagreements, “Once we’re together, none of that matters.”
Nothing much slows Anna Belle down, but a fall while taking a walk on July 5 put her in the hospital. “I said, ‘Lord look what I did to my face for my birthday.’” She talked to the Sun about celebrating her 100th birthday on July 31 while in her room at Centerpoint Health-Versailles, where she was still recovering from the fall that also injured her leg. “I couldn’t stand for anybody to touch my leg. It hurt so bad,” she said.
Anna Belle has no doubt her pastor will tease her about “not looking where you’re walking” when she returns to New Vine Baptist Church, located in a community where people “grew up with each other” – helping one another.
Now a grandmother to six, a great-grandmother to 13 and a great-great-grandmother to five, there’s no hesitation in her voice when Whitney describes her grandmother Anna Belle as “the matriarch of our family.”
“She won’t leave us when we’re sick,” said Whitney. So there was never a question someone in the family would be with her during her hospital stay because “it’s what’s expected.”
Being the one who needs someone taking care of her is hard on Anna Belle because “she wants to still be in charge,” said Tanya. She said her mother also wants everybody to eat at the dinner table together – not only family, but “anybody that comes through that door.”
“… That’s what she has taught us.”
Anna Belle learned the importance of being there for each other while growing up in Fort Spring (also known as Fort Springs), a historic African American community near Keeneland in Fayette County.
When someone in Fort Spring needed help, their neighbors “would all jump in and help,” she said.
A majority of the people living in Fort Spring were African Americans by 1882, according to the Notable Kentucky African Americans Database. Originally known as Slickaway, Fort Spring had its own church and school, where Anna Belle said she was a student.
She never knew her mother who died in childbirth, but said, “My father took care of all of us. I was the seventh girl … and I had four brothers.”
Fortunately, Anna Belle and her siblings grew up in Fort Spring where “everybody helped one another,” she said.
Because of the value she places on family, daughter Tanya said it sometimes makes Anna Belle sad knowing her siblings and dad are no longer with her. Her oldest sister, Virginia Edwards, died at 101. And even though her son Ed Jr. is gone, Tanya said her mom “still feels connected” to him because of her faith.
For 56 years, Anna Belle sang in the choir at Fort Spring’s New Vine Baptist Church and is now the church’s oldest member. She loved singing in the choir and “I just loved going to church.”
So as she looked forward to celebrating her 100th birthday with family and friends on July 31, she relied on her faith when asked about her milestone year. “He knows when He’s ready for you. You’re going whether you’re ready or not,” she said.
But as Anna Belle sometimes reminds her daughter: “Don’t count me out yet.”