Correspondent photos / John D. Bagnola Josephine “Peppy” Riffle Laakso celebrated her 100th birthday by piloting a flight with pilot Scott Dunn on Thursday.

NORTH JACKSON — Local celebrity Josephine “Peppy” Riffle Laakso has had many adventures in her century of life.

On Thursday, she celebrated her 100th birthday by piloting a private aircraft with pilot Scott Dunn, who has accompanied her on previous birthday flights. They took off from the Warren “Skeets” Airport in Braceville, which her brother, Joseph, co-founded in 1988.

The flight was the only gift she asked for, just as in previous years.

“It is a place of solace, a special time to get away from it all. The stresses of the world just melt away in flight. It is a time to really enjoy our Earth from above while concentrating on the flight controls,” Peppy said after she landed.

Peppy was the first known female pilot in the Mahoning Valley 78 years ago. She passed her private pilot’s license at the age of 22 in 1946 and has enjoyed flying ever since. She also mentioned that she has yet to skydive, but may want to try that as her next adventure.

The weekend before her flight, Peppy celebrated her 100th birthday at the Antonine Assisted Living Facility in North Jackson, where nearly 100 family members and guests gathered in the activity center to help her mark the milestone.

“Her spectacular life is filled with many accomplishments,” said Fred Schrock, her neighbor and pastor at Greenford Christian Church, who began the evening with an opening prayer.

Jackson Township Trustee Tom Frost and Fiscal Officer Judy Patton presented a proclamation for her longevity of life and lifelong commitment to family, friends and community, including her time as a “Rosie the Riveter.”

Also mentioned was her 30 years of service as an emergency room Licensed Practical Nurse and being a Red Cross swim instructor, teaching hundreds of young men and women how to swim. On several occasions, she earned senior Olympic medals in freestyle swimming.

Patrol officer Lisa Storey presented Peppy with a framed shadow box to commemorate her successes and willingness to remain active in several organizations to date. The deep recessed frame included honorary badges and pins from both the police and fire departments.

She is a member of the Jackson Police Department Crime Watch, the Jackson Citizens Organization, and the Jackson Historical Society. Commissioner David Ditzler presented Peppy with a proclamation from the Mahoning County commissioners for her years of great citizenship to the community and our country.

Her neighbors, friends, and family had great memories of Peppy. As a young single parent, she raised four successful daughters. She was strict, they recalled, but living on a 3-acre pony farm with four children was quite a challenge. Everyone agreed that a certain amount of discipline was in order.

Peppy always challenged herself to explore new ideas and be the best at what she did. She expected her daughters to do the same. Hospital staff members said she was determined to make everything turn out right. She was an emergency room nurse at St. Elizabeth’s and witnessed many unbelievable sights.

At age 17, after graduating in 1942 from Warren G. Harding High School, she was hired at 57 cents per hour as a lifeguard at Warren’s Packard Park Pool because she was a great swimmer. “It was a great first job because it taught me responsibilities. One afternoon, after a few months on the job, I had to save a young man from drowning,” she said.

Since that was just a summer job, Peppy decided to pick up a full-time job that year with the Army Corps of Engineers as a junior corps secretary. That was the time when the Army Corps was developing Lake Milton, as well as Berlin and Mosquito lakes.

She was born in Dillonvale, near Steubenville. Her parents, John and Mary Riffle, were immigrants from Slovenia. They moved to Warren when she was 2. Her nickname, Peppy, has lasted a lifetime.