Clemens P. Steimle was born August 21, 1878 in Atlantic Mine, Michigan. He entered the Michigan State Normal School in 1897 and graduated from the Michigan State Normal College in 1902 with a Life Certificate and began as an instructor and coach at Albion High School before serving two years as the principal and coach of Hillsdale High School. Steimle returned to the Michigan Normal College in 1905 as a member of the mathematics department until 1909 when he became the Registrar of the college. He served as secretary to the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and was appointed to represent the Association on the Professional Advisory Commitee of the National Survey of the Education of Teachers under the direction of John Cooper, United States Commissioner of Education for the Department of the Interior. Steimle, well liked by the students was a member of the honorary fraternities, Pi Gamma Mu, Kappa Delta Pi, Sigma Delta Psi, and the social fraternity Phi Delta Pi. An active member in the community he was a member of the Ypsilanti Players, officiated football and track events, and was the president of the WAshtenaw-Livingston County Council for Boy Scouts of America.

Steimle retired in 1949 but continued to work for the university in the capacity of emeritus registrar and member of the Alumni Board. When his wife Mary (Graham) Steimle retired in 1960 the couple moved to California where he died in 1969 at the age of 90. Mary was born in Imlay City, Michigan and attended the Normal College graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1917 and a Masters degree in 1953, she was a faculty member of the teacher training program at Lincoln Consolidated Schools and died in 1984.