The name Serena Williams is practically associated with the sport of tennis. She and her sister Venus have earned a stellar reputation as tennis players. Both of them come from a large family, being one of eight siblings.
Yetunde Price, one of them, was murdered in 2003. Here’s a look inside at what transpired and their special friendship.
Venus and Serena Williams have 8 siblings
Even while only Venus and Serena Williams’ names appear in the media, there are actually many more siblings in the Williams family.
Their mother, Oracene Price, gave birth to three more sisters Isha, Lynda, and Yetunde Price during her first marriage to Yusef Rasheed. Of the five, Serena is the youngest.
The tennis greats Venus and Serena Williams have at least seven half-siblings thanks to their father Richard Williams, who had three sons and two daughters from earlier relationships: Richard Williams III, Ronner Williams, Dylan Star Williams, Sabrina DeVille, and Chavoita Lesane.
Mother of three (Jeffrey, Justus, and Jair), RN, and co-owner of a salon, Price was a busy woman.
She had a close relationship with the Williams sisters because she worked as an assistant for them on the side. Though Venus and Serena remain close with many of their siblings, it’s the death of Price that took its toll.
Tragedy That Gets Lost in the Shadows
A shortage of sibling grief resources may exist, in my opinion, because sibling loss is generally overlooked. For many, the unexpected death of a child is so out of the ordinary that their first thoughts and concerns naturally turn to the bereaved parent.
Oftentimes, parents are ill-equipped to deal with their children’s grief, and extended relatives and friends are reticent to give comfort and guidance for fear of making things worse.
The younger or more vulnerable of two siblings may be the one who receives the lion’s share of care and attention. If any of these characteristics hold true, a grieving sibling may come to believe that the sorrow of others is more significant than their own.
One possible complicating factor is that some people choose to have their sadness go unrecognized, either by themselves or by others. If you’re the sibling that always pitches in to help out mom and dad, raise your hand.
Some siblings may feel an immediate obligation to step in and care for their younger siblings and/or their parents after a loss in the family.
This may occur for a variety of reasons, including those listed above as well as others, such as necessity, avoidance, or expectation. It’s crucial that everyone in the family understands that no one’s feelings of loss should be given more weight than the others.
Family members may take turns comforting one another, but ultimately, everyone needs to be acknowledged and cared for in their time of loss.
When asked how much she meant to us, we would say, “She meant a lot to us.”
Nurse, mother-of-three, and co-owner of a small hair shop, Price also served as Serena and Venus Williams’ personal assistant, arranging their schedules and attending Wimbledon with them. But she was also quite self-sufficient in California.
When asked about her decision to avoid following in the footsteps of her famous relatives, Price appeared to have no regrets in an interview with PEOPLE published in August 2003, only months before her death.
They are still my sisters, she affirmed. When we’re all together as a family, we don’t focus too much on the whole famous issue.
Price’s nice home was located in an affluent section of Corona. Her three children, two boys, and a girl, were all under the age of 12 and, according to the neighbors, she devoted her life to them.
Price and her children had been over at a neighbor’s house the night before the incident. She made sure her children were looked after and watched part of the Oscar De La Hoya fight before leaving on her deadly excursion with Wormley.
According to what Wormley told the L.A. Times, she picked him up that night after he got lost on a picnic.
Family and friends in the neighborhood where Price grew up now carry her legacy. The Yetunde Price Resource Center in Compton was founded by Serena and Venus Williams towards the end of 2016.
According to The Root, back then, Serena stated, “We absolutely wanted to celebrate our sister’s memory because she was a great sister; she was our oldest sister, and, clearly, she meant a lot to us.”
And it meant a lot to me and Venus and my other sisters as well, Isha and Lyndrea, that we’ve been wanting to do something in remembrance of her for years, especially given the circumstances of her passing, a terrible crime.
“Simply put, how does the family feel about it? It would be terrible for her kids if they lost my mom and us “- Serena.
“But our system was so effective that even now they are doing well. Our only thought was, “What could people who didn’t have that safety net?” And that’s basically how this information hub came to be.”
