June Pierce celebrates a century

Long before paved streets and bus routes wound their way through Spokane’s Lincoln Heights neighborhood, June Pierce (nee Tofley) pushed her wicker doll carriage down the sidewalk in front of her home.

“We had streetcars on 29th until I was 12,” she recalled.

Pierce celebrates her 100th birthday on June 8. She lives in the home her husband built in 1955, just blocks away from the house she grew up in. Her original home was part of a thriving 2½ acre chicken farm.

“I thank God many times for letting me be born when I was,” she said. “It was a much slower and enjoyable atmosphere.”

Born at Sacred Heart Hospital in 1924, Pierce was the second of three girls.

“Dad was hoping for a boy, Martin Junior,” she said. “But I turned out to be another girl!”

Martin Tofley already had three daughters from his first marriage. The Norwegian immigrant was also a centenarian, born in 1871 and dying in 1971.

“He was 53 when I was born,” she said.

His chicken farm frames her earliest memories.

“We had 3,000 baby chicks a week in the spring and summer,” she said. “During the Depression, his business flourished because people could afford chickens.”

She vividly remembers the advent of radio.

“In 1932, we bought a console radio from the Crescent Department Store and we listened to FDR’s inauguration.

Pierce attended Adams Elementary and graduated from Marycliff High School. After graduating, she took a job downtown at the Spokane and Eastern branch of Seattle-First National Bank.

“I was secretary to Patsy Clark’s grandson,” Pierce said. “He was a bank officer.”

She and her sister bought a little house on 32nd, and Pierce became good friends with several of the women with whom she worked. They had a sewing club, and they’d take turns hosting it. That’s how she met her husband, Wayne Pierce. He wasn’t a member of the sewing club, but his sister Evelyn was.

“Evelyn was a teller at the bank, and she played matchmaker,” Pierce said.

Wayne was drafted right after high school and fought in World War II. When he returned home, he found a job. One evening, Evelyn hosted the sewing group and asked Wayne to stay because she wanted to introduce him to June.

“He asked me to go out to coffee that night,” Pierce said. “But we didn’t rush into things. I didn’t get married until I was 30! We knew each other for three years and were engaged a year and a half.”

They married in 1954 and moved into her present home in 1955 when it only had three rooms.

“I know every nail and screw that went into it,” she said. “Wayne was an endless worker – you could never slow him down.”

Their son, Paul, was born shortly after they moved in, and Pierce left her job at the bank to become a full-time mom.

“I didn’t drive until 1960,” she said. “It was time because we had our daughter, Patricia, by then.”

Her first car was a 1956 seafoam green Chevy hardtop convertible. The years passed, filled with the kids’ activities, volunteer commitments, neighborhood gatherings and gardening.

“I still enjoy my flowers. My friends take me to the greenhouse every year to pick them out, and then I plant them.”

The family had many rock-hound adventures, traveling in a camper and collecting unique specimens.

She kept her children aware of current events – especially presidential elections.

“When the kids were in school, I’d put up the candidates’ banners, and on election night, we sat by the TV and watched the election.”

Expo ’74 arrived just in time for her 50th birthday.

“Expo was halfway through my life,” she said. “We went to the fair many times.”

As her 100th birthday approaches, her health and her memory are excellent.

“I was a good listener – that’s why my memory is so good,” Pierce said. “I’m not on any prescription medication, which I think has a lot to do with my longevity. God’s been very good to me. I’m so grateful.”

Pierce attends St. Peter Catholic Church and said her faith has always been an important part of her life.

“I’ve lived through all of the bishops of this diocese,” she said.

And she can name every single one.

Her morning routine is simple.

“Every day, I wake up, say my prayer, and then get down on the floor and do 30 minutes of exercise.”

Her husband died 15 years ago, and she still misses him. But her positive attitude is allowing her to sail past the century mark with gratitude and grace.

“I made up my mind when I lost my husband that I wasn’t going to sit in my rocking chair and be a crabby little old lady,” Pierce said.