Speier chilling in the hot tub at the Arcata Community Pool | Photo provided by Shannon Speier

In a pink sweatsuit and purple sequined slippers, Junie Speier – a nearly 100-year-old woman and longtime Eureka resident – sits at her kitchen table, sipping a cup of Constant Comment tea. I sit down to join her and two of her children, who offer me a cup and some oatmeal cookies, as I look through photo albums and scrapbooks documenting the amazing life that Speier has led. 

In just more than two weeks, Speier will celebrate her 100th birthday, and because of the impact she has had on so many lives locally the family is inviting the entire community to join the celebration. 

“We will be celebrating Junie Speier’s 100th birthday on Saturday, Feb. 10 at the United Congregational Church in Eureka from 1-3 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall,” the family wrote in a press release sent to the Outpost. “The public is invited & the family requests you be Covid negative or wear a mask in order to protect Junie & others who are attending the party.” 

When asked if she was excited for her big party, Speier laughed and said “I might leave town.” 

Clearly, this seasoned woman still has a robust sense of humor. 

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Speier moved to Eureka with her husband, Ted Speier, in 1947. Speier began teaching at Eureka High School and helped the effort to build the school’s swimming pool, which opened in 1950 and closed in 2008. Speier spent many years teaching swim lessons both for children and for adult education classes. She also started the “Frolic Club,” where she taught social dancing and etiquette to fifth through seventh graders. 

Speier has long possessed a passion for the water, and during her time in LA, Speier worked as a swimming instructor and as an American Red Cross lifeguard. She was also a Red Cross volunteer for 62 years and in 2004 she received a Red Cross volunteer Lifetime Achievement Award. 

Hearing the stories of Speier’s life, it seems clear that she was a bit of a firecracker and not afraid to go after what she wanted. When she was in high school, Speier wanted to become a cheerleader, an activity that was exclusively for men back in those days. Knowing that they wouldn’t let a girl join, Speier went to the barber before auditions and cut her hair very short and auditioned as a boy. After she made it on the team, word got around that she was a girl. Fortunately instead of kicking her out, the school changed the rules to allow girls on the cheer team. 

As a talented swimmer (and, I also must say, a total babe), Speier received a lot of attention in her younger years, and was even offered a part in an Esther Williams film. Speier turned down the offer because “I was busy,” she said. She also, not surprisingly, received a fair amount of attention from the fellas. This is made clear in one of Speier’s photo albums, she titled “The Men in My Life, Volume 1,” which contains pictures of Speier’s many hunky boyfriends. 

“There was never a ‘volume two’ because she met dad,” Speier’s son, Spencer, said jokingly. 

Speier at Big Lagoon in 1961 | Photo provided by Shannon Speier

Speier met her husband in LA in 1943, while he was on leave from the Army. Having borrowed her brother’s convertible, Speier and one of her girlfriend’s were cruising through Hollywood, when they stopped in front of a group of men in uniform and told them to “jump in” and the gang went out dancing all night at the Cocoanut Grove. Junie and Ted hit it off immediately, and the next morning the two attended the Easter Sunrise Service at Hollywood Bowl. 

After “going steady” for a while, the two were married in 1944, just three days before Junie’s 20th birthday. 

Though things were good in LA, Speier wanted to start a family and didn’t want to do it in a big city. Her husband was born and raised in Samoa, and hearing about and seeing pictures of Humboldt County, Speier decided that it was the perfect place to land. 

“[LA] was a good place to grow up when I did, and there were many opportunities,” Speier said. “But this is a good place to raise a family.” 

The couple’s marriage lasted 75 years, until Ted passed away in 2019, and brought them three children and two grandchildren. 

The Speiers passed on their love of the water to their children, and the family spent many summers at their other property near Big Lagoon, where they would swim, fish and water ski. The family still spends time there, Speier’s daughter, Shannon, said, though the activities are much more mellow and they mostly hang out and “take care of mom.” 

Though she can no longer participate in the more extreme sports, Speier still enjoys swimming and her daughter takes her to the Arcata Community Pool at least a couple times a month. Speier said that staying active has likely contributed to her living such a long and healthy life, as well as eating right. Her mother always provided nutritious, home-cooked meals, Speier said, and she picked up healthy eating habits from a young age. 

When asked if there were any other factors that helped her live for at least a century, Speier’s shrugged and just said, “luck.” 

We then raised our cups of Constant Comment in a cheers. “To the next 100,” she said with a laugh. 

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If you are one of the many people in Humboldt who have had the joy of knowing Speirs, then join the family for her 100th birthday celebration on Saturday, Feb. 8 10 from 1 to 3 p.m. at the in the Fellowship Hall of the United Congregational Church – 900 Hodgson Street, Eureka.