Mrs. Bertha Mae (Knowles) Drake was born to Mr. & Mrs. Redmon (Grace Roberts) Knowles on May 3, 1917, in Hondo, Texas. She was their third child (following sister Eunice and brother Ralph). She spent her childhood in Hondo and attended the Colored School which offered grades one through eleven under the tutelage of Professor & Mrs. Leroy Edmerson. She completed high school in San Antonio at Phillis Wheatley (Class of 1936).