Incredible: Problem solved! iCloud backup is up to date.
Lessons learned:
1. Keep your iPhone WiFi password up to date. (my biggest stupid mistake)
2. iCloud and/or data can be backed up at any time, but expect automatic backups for iCloud in the wee hours of the next day.
3. When the Option "sync with this iPhone over Wi-Fi is checked, it works with or without having the Cellular Data on.
I arrived at these lessons with your help and tacit's plus a lot of experimenting to see what I must do and what I don't necessarily need to do. Because I had been doing number 3 above for a long time, I tried to see if it could be done that way. I'm embarrassed to admit that my real problem was self inflicted by forgetting to change the password on my iPhone's WiFi. I can't expect anyone to declare that diagnosis right off the bat. I'm sorry to have bugged you, but I am grateful to have the problem solved. Item 2 that you mentioned is a godsend if I have a similar problem in the future. Thanks again.
