In or around 1963, Locke essentially broke off contact with her family, concluding: "It made no sense for any of us to spend our lives pretending to have relationships that did not really exist." She never knew her biological father, and did not attend the funerals of her mother (deceased 1997) or stepfather (deceased 2007), nor did she have anything to do with her brother, sister-in-law and three nieces. Donald blamed Gordon Anderson – Locke's best friend since adolescence and future husband – for the rift, claiming Anderson had "an almost hypnotic spell on her."