Leave a comment 0comments Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/brief/351642/grace-weissman Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Audio Throughout the pandemic, Americans in elder care facilities have been at a high risk of contracting COVID-19. But there are also those residents of nursing homes who have survived the disease in spite of their age. Centenarian Grace Weissman-Spiegel-Davis is one of those. She shares her Brief But Spectacular take on her spectacular, but not brief, life. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. Judy Woodruff: Throughout the pandemic, Americans in elder care homes have been some of the people most at risk from COVID-19.But there are those in nursing homes who have survived the disease, despite their age.Tonight's Brief But Spectacular features centenarian Grace Weissman-Spiegel-Davis, who shares what her experience was like. Grace Weissman-Spiegel-Davis: I was a victim of the coronavirus. And I must say, I am happy that I survived this.And I'm told I did come down with a fever. Truthfully, I wasn't aware of it. And it might be that I was not mentally facing it.There has been no activity in the hairdressing salon because of this pandemic which is going on. So I said, when I was asked to be interviewed, only if I can have my hair done. And that's what happened. I had my hair done, so I'm number one on the hit parade.(LAUGHTER)I'm 102 years old, and I live in a retirement development called the Mary Wade Home, which is in New Haven, Connecticut.As a little girl, we lived — it was a tenement, actually, in Harlem, New York, on 116th Street. I never heard of a pandemic before this one. We had what we called epidemics, and one was whooping cough.And I remember my mother taking us on the subway to the Staten Island Ferry during the whooping cough epidemic, because saltwater was good for the whooping cough. I remember that very clearly.Well, my life hasn't changed much, and I feel like I still can have some fun and a few laughs and still have my mental facilities or faculties, I should say.(LAUGHTER)All I know is that I tell all my friends, if I die, please call my hairdresser first. I want to have my hair done and look well at my funeral.(LAUGHTER)I have led a nice life. I have been very fortunate.I would like to be remembered as a good friend, as a good relative, and as a good person who lived on this wonderful Earth, and hope that it all works out well.My name is Grace Weissman-Spiegel-Davis. And this was my not-so-brief, but spectacular life. Judy Woodruff: Grace Weissman-Spiegel-Davis, we are so glad you survived, and a lot of us share your appreciation for hairdressers. Listen to this Segment Watch Watch the Full Episode PBS NewsHour from Aug 05, 2020