St. Clair Shores resident celebrates 100th birthday

ST. CLAIR SHORES — According to this St. Clair Shores woman, turning 100 makes her feel like a teenager once more.

Esther Tocco is preparing to turn 100 on Feb. 3. Through her lifetime, she’s owned a gym, styled hair and volunteered her skills for various organizations. She said she feels wonderful reaching this milestone and that she feels like a teenager.

“I don’t know how I got up there at that age,” Tocco said. “I didn’t know what a hundred felt like, but when people say you’re old, I don’t feel old. I feel that I’ve accomplished so much in my life.”

Tocco said she’s sure the rest of her life is going to be wonderful.

“I know that God has kept me here for some reason, which I still don’t know what it is, but I’m sure he’s got something out there that he wants me to do before I leave this world,” Tocco said.

Her and her husband, John Tocco, always lived in St. Clair Shores. They met on a blind date in Detroit. The couple were married for over 60 years before he passed away in 2005.

“Very good, happy, happy time in my life,” Tocco said about her husband. “We’ve had sad times, but I’ve also had good times.”

Tocco said they built their first house on Lange Street.

She has two daughters, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

She is proud of her accomplishments as well, saying she became a hairdresser after one year of beauty school. It was a 50-year career and Tocco said if it weren’t for her knees, she’d still be doing it. Her hair salon was located behind Pat O’Brien’s Tavern on 10 Mile Road.

When she was younger, Tocco owned a gym, something she made headlines for. The gym was called Fitness Unlimited. She was also a painting instructor at Popke Paints and was a dancer.

“I was always doing something in St. Clair Shores,” Tocco said.

Along with being a hairdresser, the things that stuck out the most to her is her involvement with her family.

“I babysat for my great-grandkids, Logan and Chloe, until I was 90 years old,” Tocco said.

Currently, her volunteer work stands out to her.

“When COVID hit, I used to sew face masks that some of them went to an air base up in Alaska where my great-grandson served,” Tocco said.

With ladies at her church, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, she also sewed lap robes, baby blankets and more.

“I would say maybe, you know, the volunteer thing is the biggest thing in my life right now, but I’ve always been crafting,” Tocco said. “I’ve always done something as far as crafts.”

Tocco’s church is also very important to her. She said she’s had every job she could think of at the church from its board of trustees to the choir.

Decorating Faberge eggs is also something she did earlier in her life.

“Where you take a chicken egg or ostrich egg or whatever and you put a design on it and then you carve it,” Tocco said. “And I’ve got some beautiful pieces that I’ve finished.”

Over her lifetime, she’s met many people through her various careers, church and volunteer work.

She’s had the same hairdresser, Jerry Asarao, for 50 years.

“He was not only that, but a good friend,” Tocco said.

The advice Tocco would give younger people is to not use substances such as alcohol and drugs. She also said to go to church and watch what you say.

“And plan a future. Plan on what you want to do. Get some education,” Tocco said. “If you can’t, there’s a lot of free money out there. Get into something that you want to do, but that’s what I would advise young people. Get into the direction that you want to go.”