Cambridge Seniors: Juicy Hollis

Hear Juicy Hollis’ voice here.

When I first called Joycelyn Hollis (“Call me Juicy!”), I got her voicemail. Her voice, warm and a little husky, came on and wished the listener a day full of blessings. I knew we’d get along. I called her again and this time, sure I wasn’t a telemarketer, she answered the phone. After we’d established that she wanted to be profiled, we talked for almost half an hour right off the bat – about personal growth, owning your power, and not taking less than you deserve.

Entering Juicy’s home a week or two later, I encountered an avalanche of color, a lush oasis in the middle of east Cambridge. Every object, from the ceramic elephants and rabbits on the shelves, to each of her kitchen implements all in red, was chosen with the utmost care. Meditative music flowed from the sound system. A fan hummed in the corner. Juicy had built herself a sanctuary, and she welcomed me in.

Sculptures on Juicy’s shelves in her apartment’s entrance.

Juicy was born in the Deep South, a little outside Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She had to go to work to help out the family early in life, from about age six. Before school and during breaks, she and her siblings would help pick cotton, peaches, and whatever else was in season. The children owned shoes, but would only be allowed to wear them to church and school, so as to not wear them out quickly. But, she noted to me, the grass was always soft beneath her feet, so it wasn’t a problem. She misses the peaches of her childhood. The children helped earn money and, as a treat, were sometimes given pocket money to buy bought peanuts or soda.

When Juicy was twelve, her family moved up to Boston. It was a little tough at first: her accent made her stand out, and she also endured some bullying from her classmates at school. The Southern kindness and relaxed modes of talk that she’d grown up with were notably absent up here.

She started dating one of her classmates in high school, and got pregnant with her first child. She had a daughter — who’d become the only girl out of her six children — at age sixteen. She attended pregnancy school but a year after giving birth, the pressures of child-raising and school became too much, and she dropped out. She developed an alcohol addiction in her late teens.

Her living room

In her mid-twenties, she kicked the alcohol habit and didn’t have a single drink for sixteen years. During this time, she began what would become a decades-long pursuit of juggling multiple jobs at a time to support her children. “I don’t know what a welfare check looks like, because I’ve never received one,” she told me.

She worked as a bartender for years. She worked for John Hancock in Boston, climbing the ranks from receptionist to accountant, for over two decades. When they were bought by a larger company, she stayed on, expecting to continue her work, and when the next company let her go she missed out on the severance she would have gotten.

She also served as a home health aid for people suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, taking care of one particular patient for eighteen years. She worked in a psychiatric facility where schizophrenic patients were staying.

Her final job was with the Cambridge Housing Authority.

Not far from seventy, Juicy has the kind of looks and energy that result in offers of dates from strangers. For decades, she was the light of her workplaces, always bringing a smile and humor to whatever room she was in. Now, she wants to redirect some of that energy, finally, to herself.

She’s undergoing a kind of Renaissance, now that she’s freed from her 9-to-5s and nightshift jobs. She frequently joins senior outings around Cambridge and Boston, and wants to try her hand at working in addiction recovery centers. She has also had a lifelong interest in makeup, and might want to become a cosmetologist. With an expert eye for fashion and home decor, and as a huge enthusiast for thrifting, she’s also thought about opening up her own thrift store.

Regardless of what she does professionally, she’s savoring living life as a sober woman, enjoying the love and connection she has with her children and their families, and living every day to the fullest.