Rozene Oliver was born on July 27, 1932 to Peter and Annie Mae McDaniel in Bowman (Orangeburg County), South Carolina. She was the sixth of ten siblings, Albertha, Mabel, Earle, Wilbur, Ernest, Rosena (Rozene), Dorothy, John, Thomas, and Leroy.

When she was sixteen, she was sent to Washington, DC to help her sister, Mabel Lockard. She cared for the children as Mabel and Mack, her husband, worked.
In her twenties, she met and married William Thomas Oliver. They had three sons, Robert, John, and Edward. Also, William Michael Oliver, her stepson, joined the family. Rozene was a devoted and open-hearted mother who always looked after all the boys.

Rozene worked hard all her life to provide for her family, and she managed her home and career well.

She was a caring mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She leaves behind her sister, Dorothy Boyd, of California; two sisters-in-law, Pauline (Ernest) and Virginia (Leroy); her two sons, Robert (Judith) and John; her stepson, Michael; two granddaughters, Iyanna and Portia; three great-grandchildren, Chloe, Izeyah, and Izabella; Virginia Floyd (Iyanna’s mother); and a host of nieces and nephews.