Selma Neubacher Steele

She is best remembered for her efforts to landscape the grounds and establish the gardens at the House of the Singing Winds, the Steele home and studio in Brown County, Indiana.

Her remains are buried beside her husband's in the T. C. Steele Memorial Cemetery at the state historic site near Belmont, Brown County, Indiana.

After the ceremony the couple moved into a newly completed, four-room home and studio on more than 60 acres (24 hectares) of hilltop land in Brown County, Indiana.

Selma is credited with transforming the grounds surrounding their home into gardens and an artistic landscape "interesting enough to be placed on the painter's canvases.

"[8][9] Managing the remote hilltop property proved to be a challenge due to lack of many amenities, including accessible roads, electricity, and running water.

The converted space became a welcoming art studio and gathering place on campus where Steele and his wife greeted visitors and students could watch the artist at work.

Selma managed the artist's studio, rented out cabins on the property, and sold farm produce and her husband's paintings to earn cash.

[18] Selma corresponded with leaders at IU as early as 1938 about transferring ownership of the House of the Singing Winds to the school, but the negotiations were never concluded.

[19] In July 1945 she donated the entire Brown County property (211 acres (85 hectares) of land) that included the house, its furnishings and decorative arts, a large studio and other buildings, and more than 300 of her husband's paintings to the Indiana Department of Conservation (the present-day Indiana Department of Natural Resources) to establish the T. C. Steele State Historic Site, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 as the Theodore Clement Steele House and Studio.

[11] Perry also credited Selma for her efforts, despite many challenges, to improve the quality of life in Brown County through upgrades to the local infrastructure (especially its roads) and better educational opportunities, as well as supporting nature preservation and soil conservation in the area.