She was born in Columbus, Ohio, and received a bachelor's degree from Ohio State University in 1940, where she was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority and Mortar Board. She lived in Dallas for 38 years and Chapel Hill for 30 years, where she was very active in St. Thomas More Church and the Inter-Faith Council. She moved to Houston in the summer of 2006.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at Calvary Hill Chapel in Dallas, Texas, on Monday, May 5, at 10 a.m. Interment will follow in the Calvary Hill Mausoleum.

Survivors include two daughters, Janet Pierce Piszko of Houston, Texas, and Laura Pierce Walker Woods of Henderson, Nev.; a granddaughter, Rebecca Catherine Pierce Walker of Chapel Hill; a sister, Mildred Geren Seybold of Severna Park, Md.; and a special sister-in-law, Martha Pierce Crabbe of Marietta, Ga.

Contributions may be given in her memory to the Muscular Dystrophy Association, The American Heart Association, or a charity of choice.