Ottawa musician Joyce Piercy turns 100 years old

The key to living to 100 for Joyce Piercy is simple: “Coffee, coffee and more coffee.”

Piercy, of Ottawa, turned 100-years-old on Friday, Dec. 23, but she hasn’t slowed down since dropping out of high school to avoid having to dissect a frog. She plays piano, sings and crochets every single day.

“My dad told me if I was dropping out that I better get a job,” Piercy said. “So that’s what I did.”

From there, Piercy worked cleaning houses and scrubbing floors between picking up work at Westclox in Peru, which she did not enjoy, and Owens-Illinois in Streator, which she very much enjoyed.

What she enjoyed the most, though, is playing music. While she no longer performs at restaurants and clubs like she used to, she plays every single day.

“I have a voicemail from her every single birthday,” said Nicole Killelea, Piercy’s grandaughter. “She calls and sings to every one of us and I let it go to voicemail so I’ll always have it. Then I call her right back.”

She might be the most well-known for her performances on both the piano and the accordion at clubs and restaurants like Marta’s in Naplate, the Elks Club, Monte’s, Woody’s, The Pines in Streator, and several others. She kept track of it all in her “handy dandy” notebook, which Killelea was able to produce.

There, Joyce kept track of the dates and times of the gig, along with how much she was paid for them. The pay varied but she played almost every Saturday throughout the 1970s and 1980s, whether it be in Streator, Ottawa, north to Kingston or even further north in Couderay, Wisconsin, where her family had a trailer and would travel on vacations.

Piercy started as a musician singing in a duet with her sister, but it wasn’t until she was 57 she discovered how much she enjoyed performing for a crowd. Her favorite song to perform is the “Lullaby of Broadway.”

“There was this man who wanted me to perform for his anniversary and wouldn’t take no for an answer no matter how many times I said I didn’t want to do it,” Piercy said. “Then I got up there and realized he was right. I fell in love with performing for a crowd.”

Piercy said she doesn’t have many memorable moments from being on stage. She said she’s had friends who perform name specific nights and specific fans, but she would enter a zone when she was on stage. She said in those days, the music was meant to be in the background, supplemental to the meal or whatever else was going on at the venue she was playing.

She’s accomplished much in her life: She lived on a farm with her husband, Myles, for 13 years of their marriage raising horses, cows, chickens and turkeys, and owned a dancewear store called In Motion from 1984 to 1988. Piercy was a member of the American Federation of Musicians Ottawa Local 391, a union that once consisted of 175 members. She served as an executive board member, becoming a vice president at one point.

Jody Pleskovich, another granddaughter, said there’s always been music around Piercy ever since she can remember.

“Growing up, there was always somebody playing the piano or singing,” Pleskovich said. “It’s still that way now.”

Piercy said she, herself, grew up in a musical household. Her father played the harmonica and the squeezebox, a musical instrument that’s similar to the accordion. He played both instruments at the same time.

Piercy spends her days now visiting with her neighbors on Ottawa’s South Side and crocheting, doing everything she can to keep busy.

“I’ve done more doilies than I can count and I’ll crochet around Christmas ornaments this time of year,” Piercy said. “The largest thing I’ve ever done is a tablecloth, but it’s not as thick as some of my other work.”

Killelea said Piercy crochets baby blankets for her children and grandchildren, as well.

Other than that, Piercy loves looking at Facebook to keep up with all of her family and friends that have moved far away.