When she was 12 she moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where her mother, named Catherine, died within a year.
She started studies at Omaha High School at the age of 15, and the same year Mr. Hendricks died and her aunt was confined to a mental institution.
[2] In order to continue her studies, Comfort took a job as a domestic in the family of Watson B. Smith.
Her final year in high school she left the Smith household and stayed with various Omaha African-American families.
Her college fees were paid by Omaha High School teacher, Belle H.