Judie Piercy, 79, of Clintonville, passed away Thursday, September 26, 2024. She was also known as “Charlie Browne” and was the daughter of James “Jimmy” and Dorothy “Butch” Studt Browne. She was born in Johnstown, PA, in 1945. She grew up in the suburbs of Washington, DC, in Landover Hills, a place where kids played under streetlights and neighbors talked over fences. Judie met “Sneaky Pete” Piercy while working in the Landover Central Telephone Office where she was a Repair Clerk, and he was a Frame Hop. They married and settled into the same neighborhood as her parents. While in Maryland they welcomed two children, Curtis and Chrissy.
Time moved on and Pete took a transfer with the phone company that brought them to his family farm in Clintonville. They embarked upon the adventure of building a new home together, literally piece by piece. He introduced the city girl to all the joys of country life. Suburban Judie was a homemaker but also Pete’s farm help. She tromped through the woods chasing cows, split firewood and mowed a yard twenty times the size of the one she grew up in. Pete and Judie welcomed a third child, Caron, and their little family of five was complete. She instilled a love of reading in her three children, and she loved introducing them to classic movies and oldies music. Her grandchildren talk all the time about watching “Fly Away Home” with her and eating her special buttered popcorn recipe. Her famous hot chocolate mix was a gift she gave each of them at Christmas and we will never see a mug without thinking of her. She would say, “Save that jar, bring it back, so I can refill it!” Indeed, Mamaw, we will.
During her 58 years of married life, she truly was Pete’s biggest supporter. A true helpmeet in every way. She made her house a home, making sure her family always had everything to keep them comfortable. She was a huge supporter of her children’s school, Williamsburg Elementary & Junior High, helping with everything from bake sales, ramp dinners, driving equipment, chaperoning and even made the banner the band used in parades. Her whoopie pies, award winning lemon pies and her pizzas are things that bring a smile to everyone’s faces. She made her own clothes, lots of beautiful things for her children and grandchildren and mended everything that Pete ever managed to tear. She made quilts, bridesmaid dresses, hemmed pants for family and friends, and sewed patches on countless military uniforms. Judie WAS our home. There was nothing she couldn’t fix and no stain that she didn’t know how to remove.
Judie and Pete loved to travel. They visited more than 40 of the United States, taking their children on a zigzagging camping trip across America that lasted almost a month. More recently enjoying their 50th anniversary with a drive across the country to Seattle and embarking on a cruise to Alaska.
Judie leaves behind a family that she loved dearly. Her life’s work, which is now complete. Her husband Pete. Son Curtis Piercy and wife Melissa. Daughter Christine and husband Jackson Hicks. Daughter Caron and husband Joseph Wickline. Granchildren Abbagail Piercy Highlander (Benson), Jessica Hicks (Fiance Tripp Nelson), Cora Piercy (Justen Defibaugh), Cassidy Hicks McCoy (Zack), Gabriel Piercy, Emelia Piercy, Jorja, Cadon and Carli Wickline, Isabella Loyola, Tea and Brandon Workman. Great-grandchildren Leon Highlander, Lukas, Lehland and Olivia Defibaugh and Madelyn Adwell. Her sister Janie Davidson and husband Jim. Numerous special nieces and nephews. We could continue the list of people that Judie considered family, but we would run out of paper and time. She loved deeply and was loved in return.
Visitation will be held Sunday, September 29 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the James Chapel United Methodist Church on Shoestring Trail Road in Clintonville. Funeral service will be Monday, September 30 at 1 p.m. at the church with the Reverends Rick Brown and Jesse Pope officiating. Burial will be in the James Chapel Cemetery.
Thank you to all the friends and family who have reached out during this difficult time. Judie left us too soon. We hope you think of a favorite Judie memory and write it down to share with her family to cherish in the days to come.
Proverbs 31:28-31 “Her children rise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praises her. Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”
