How long is lifelong you may ask? Barclay will celebrate her 100th birthday on Dec. 7.

Barclay has many fond memories of living in Marquette as she approaches her centennial, including neighborhood sleigh rides in the winter, helping her father at his grocery stores, and taking rides around Presque Isle Park, something she still enjoys doing today.

Born Sylvia Marie Hannula to parents Ernest and Helvi Hannula of Marquette, she grew up with two sisters and one brother in a house along Michigan Street.

Today, Barclay has a son named Duane and a granddaughter named Rebecca, and also is awaiting the birth of a great grandchild.

Sylvia Barclay, who will celebrate her 100th birthday on Dec. 7, is pictured in a photo dated April 1992. (Photo courtesy of Duane and Rose Barclay)

Duane Barclay and his wife Rose reside near the Twin Cities in Minnesota. They make frequent trips to Marquette to visit Sylvia, who now resides at Norlite Nursing Center.

Like many who grew up in the early 20th century, life was a challenge at times, but Sylvia made it through thanks to the people she surrounded herself with.

“Life was hard, but your (Duane’s) mom had the fun times with her friends from the stories and from (what) I’ve read in her diaries,” Rose said. “She had to work to help out the family from a young age, and she also had to help her mom because her mom spoke no English. Life was hard, but she had a fun time because she had a group of friends.

“She often talks about the fun winter activities. The sleigh riding, just going out in the snow and walking, they walked great distances.”

In fact, there was an area for sleigh riding at one point in time.

“We had a designated sleigh riding hill in Trowbridge (Park),” Duane said. “If you can picture Erie (Avenue) going toward Wright Street from Vandenboom (School), you go down Erie Street hill, that was a designated sleigh riding hill. They wouldn’t put sand on it, they had big signs they put on the intersections, and we would spend hours and hours going down that hill with our sleighs.”

The only time she didn’t live in Marquette was during World War II.

“She spent her whole life here except for… I don’t know how long she was in Detroit during the war, building bombers,” Duane said. “There were B-17s or B-24s.”

“Then she came right back to Marquette,” Rose added.

Sylvia married her husband Francis Barclay in 1943 in the midst of the war.

“She was dating my dad,” Duane said. “They got married in 1943, he was home on parole in May of 1943. He was at Camp McCoy in Wisconsin, he had to get back and she went with him on the bus to Milwaukee and left him there and she had to come back here (to Marquette).”

“Just the other day she said that was hard for her,” Rose added. “Just newly married. She’s also a person who wasn’t used to being alone and to make the travel by herself. She said eating at restaurants alone was hard on the trip back.

“But at some point, she went to join her sister and brother-in-law in Detroit during the war.”

Duane and Rose said Sylvia spent six to nine months in Detroit for wartime duties, according to her diaries.

“I think she was lonesome for Marquette,” Rose said. “Even though her sister was there (in Detroit), I think she wanted Marquette.”

“So she came back here and waited for my dad to come back home,” Duane added. “And there was family here,” Rose continued.

Sylvia had graduated from Graveraet High School in 1940 and worked in various local shops throughout her life.

“Plattenberg’s (Store) was on Ontario (Avenue), there’s a bar there now,” Duane said. “She worked there and my grandpa also had a store that’s no longer there on Woodridge (Avenue) in Trowbridge, just a block down from Vandenboom. There used to be a store there too.”

Other activities Sylvia enjoyed doing were swimming at the lighthouse beach, skiing and attending screenings downtown.

“In her diaries she talks a lot about going to double features at the two theaters,” Rose said, referring to the Delft and Nordic theaters that both stood along Washington Street.

“They seemed to be the hub of social life in Marquette at that time. She and her friends would go to one theater one night and see a double feature, and then another night they’d go to the other theater. But then the next week, they’d be back. They must’ve changed movies weekly rather than long runs.”

Life has changed immensely in Sylvia’s near-century on Earth, from development in the city to technological advancements that were unheard of 100 years ago.

“Even in my 75 years, I’ve seen all kinds of changes,” Duane said. “I don’t think she’s directly talked about the changes, but indirectly,” Rose continued. “Like, ‘Oh, that didn’t used to be there.’ Initially, she and her mom and siblings lived in Marquette, the city, and her dad was in Trowbridge at a farm. She called it a camp, but (her dad) was raising crops there and raising a couple of chickens. One diary talked about a calf or a cow.”

“And this was in Trowbridge,” Duane added. “Between Montgomery and Center streets.”

“So she hasn’t talked about changes directly,” Rose finished. “Like ‘That didn’t used to be there’ or ‘That’s always been there.'”

From a tech standpoint, Sylvia had a computer that was used solely for sending emails at the time.

“She remembers the system she had that was sort of like a computer but not really a computer,” Rose said. “She couldn’t learn how to do that and pushing buttons and yeah, technology is overwhelming.”

Rose also recalled Sylvia being an avid sewer.

“People kind of knew her for her sewing ability,” Rose said. “She was a good sewer. Making things from scratch, making an outfit for herself, but also altering and doing things, and she’s very proud of herself for that. Even up until maybe the last couple of years, she was still altering clothes.”

Throughout her life, Sylvia has prided herself in kindness, something she continues to take pride in to this day.

“Everyone who meets her loves her,” Rose said. “And I know a lot of people would say that about their own family members, but the people at Norlite say ‘Oh I just love her, she is so sweet,’ she goes to the eye doctor, ‘Oh we just love her, she is so sweet.’ She does not want to say anything or do anything to upset anybody, and she’s been like that her whole life.”

So what’s the secret to living for nearly a century?

“What has helped her to live to be 100? I would say she’s very careful with taking care of herself,” Rose said. “Watching what she eats, no smoking, no alcohol consumption, I mean there was every once in awhile, but just good clean living.

“And I think the laughter helps. They say laughter is good for a healthy body.”

“And the Finnish SISU,” Duane added. “She had a grandmother in Finland who lived to be 10 days to two weeks short of 100. So her goal has been for the last several years to live to be 100, to kind of outdo her grandmother. So she’s going for it.”

Duane and Rose are hoping to be in town for the centennial celebration, but with the pandemic still roaring, they’re hoping to reach out to family to help Sylvia celebrate with an alternative method.

“What we are doing is we are asking all of our family members and friends to send her birthday greetings,” Rose said. “Because she likes to collect cards. We are asking all of our friends and her friends to send a card. We also did send a letter to the White House requesting a presidential birthday card too.

“We’ll get a cake from Econo and have a friend pick it up if we can’t be here, and Norlite said they’d take pictures of her and everything.”

The Barclays welcome any friends, acquaintances or the public to send a card as well.

“There might be some people out there who are familiar with her that we don’t know of,” Rose said. “We certainly wouldn’t tell them not to,” Duane added. “Like if her old dentist wants to send her a card or health care staff or somebody who their mother knew her and they would like to send her a card, year, we don’t have an objection to that,” Rose finished. “Just (yesterday), about two times now since we’ve been (visiting Marquette), she’s mentioned that she’s gotten a lot of cards. That seems to be something that she’s proud of.”

Asked what Duane and Rose would like to say to Sylvia as she nears her big celebration, they want her to know how much she’s loved by family, friends and community members alike.

“Thanks for being a good mom and bringing me up the right way with values,” Duane said. “And to realize how much she is loved too,” Rose continued. “Not only by us and other family members, but by a lot of other people that she’s come in contact with.”

Many who achieve such a high age might say they’ve seen and done all they want to see and do. Not Sylvia though, not at all.

“She may not be able to do as much as she did before, but she seems to like what she is able to do,” Rose said. “She did say a comment that other day, she said, ‘I’m just going to keep on going and doing the best I can.'”

If you’re interested in sending Sylvia a birthday card, they can be addressed to Norlite Nursing Center at 701 Homestead St., Marquette, MI 49855.

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