r Spanish Fork resident Stanley Fred Pierce, who prefers to be called Fred, celebrated his 100th birthday on May 14. He was born on May 14, 1917, to Stanley Griffith and Elizabeth Archibald Boyack Pierce in Spanish Fork, Utah. Fred was the second child in the family, having an older sister Madge who was born in December 1913. There were also three younger siblings: James F. born about 1919, Grace M. born about 1931, and Winn born about 1939.
Stanley Griffith Pierce worked in construction, and Fred worked for him prior to World War II. He joined the National Guard to keep from being drafted and ended up in an artillery unit in the South Pacific during World War II. He was in the Army from 1941 to 1945.
After the war, Fred married Fay Moore in the Salt Lake Temple, and they are the parents of four boys and one girl, the daughter being the youngest of the children.
Fred still lives in the house he built in 1946. He was a carpenter almost all his working life, working for Dean and Peay Construction in Orem. At the end of the sidewalk to his front door is scratched, “The Pierces 1973.” That was when he poured the new sidewalk. When asked what the secret to his long life is, Fred answered that he has always been very active. “He shingled his house for the last time when he was in his 80s,” his son, Mike, added. “He was climbing ladders in the apple orchard and picking apples when he was in his 90s.” Fred’s wife of 57 years, Fay Moore Pierce, passed away on Oct. 5, 2003, in Orem and is buried in the Spanish Fork Cemetery.
A special reception celebrating Fred’s life was held on May 13 in Spanish Fork.
