MC music legend Gracie Peterson turns 102

Gracie Peterson '22, a Monmouth College legend, turns 102 today.

March 2, 2004

Listen to Gracie sing and play

Grace Gawthrop Peterson, who graduated from Monmouth College in 1922 and spent the next 50 years as a member of its music faculty, turns 102 today.

Known to generations as "Gracie," the centenarian will observe the day quietly at Community Medical Center's long-term care facility in Monmouth, where she has been a resident since suffering a fall almost two years ago. Prior to that, she was continuing to entertain diners at Meling's Restaurant with her inimitable piano style, as she had for three decades.

On the occasion of her 100th birthday in 2002, Gracie performed at a gala concert in Galesburg's Orpheum Theatre, sponsored by the Monmouth Rotary Club, for which she played piano weekly for 70 years. The concert was reminiscent of the musical extravaganzas she produced at Monmouth's Rivoli Theatre in the 1940s and '50s, and it featured the talent of some of her former students who performed in those memorable musicals.

Gracie's show business acumen was tuned decades earlier when she began performing dual piano recitals with her mentor, the late Edna Browning Riggs, a longtime member of the MC music faculty. She also directed and toured with a women's glee club, and for many years was choir director at the Second United Presbyterian Church in Monmouth. Her elaborate Christmas candlelight services presented there remain legendary in the memories of Monmouth residents.

Following her retirement in 1972, Gracie became a world traveler and shared her experiences through musical "travelogues" which she wrote and performed widely. Well into her 90s, she continued to drive, eschewed medicine and eyeglasses, and refused to give up high heels.

Her secret to longevity? Eat a large breakfast and always vote Republican.

Cards and letters may be sent to: Gracie Peterson, c/o Community Medical Center, Long-Term Care Unit, 1000 W. Harlem Ave., Monmouth, IL 61462.