Spicer, 100, Oldest to Get COVID-19 Vaccine at DCHD

Having been born on the heels of the last great worldwide pandemic in 1920, Leila Spicer of rural Everton decided she wouldn’t be taking any chances with COVID-19, and came to the Dade County Health Department to get vaccinated as soon as she was able.

“I decided to get the vaccine to be on the safe side and not get the virus,” said Spicer. “I want to be able to go out and visit places, craft fairs, the local festivals – maybe even go to a restaurant.”

“We haven’t been out to a restaurant since COVID got started,” said Spicer’s daughter, Cheryl Akers. “She enjoys being with people and contributing, being active and taking part.”

Spicer was born Leila Wendt in Harvard, Nebraska, one of six children, of whom one sister, Doris Dye, is still living, in Omaha.

COVID-19 is just the latest adventure for her to navigate in her long life, during which she also lived through the Great Depression, working in Washington, D.C., during World War II and being married to an engineer working on defense projects and for NASA, among other things.

“I went to the same hairdresser in Washington as Eleanor Roosevelt – back in those days, you weren’t allowed to speak to somebody that high up, only respond to them,” said Spicer.

During her time working for the war department in Washington, she had the opportunity to meet one of the original “G-men,” Melvin Purvis.

“He escorted me home after staff duty, and I told him I wanted to be sure and let him know I had to eat a lot of Post Toasties growing up so my little brother could get his ‘G-man’ badges [that came as a prize],” said Spicer.

As a secretary she also had the duty of taking dictation from various individuals, and was typing up the executive order issued by Franklin Roosevelt that created the Military Police when the general on duty informed her of a typographical error.

“In taking dictation, I made a transcription error, and typed ‘eternal’ instead of ‘internal,’” Spicer said which a chuckle. “The general informed me ‘eternal security’ was a little beyond the purview of the military!”

After WWII, Spicer was working in the civil service at Denver when she met her future husband, Wilson Spicer, after he survived a bomber crash. Wilson Spicer, an engineer, went to work for the Carter division of Shell Oil, and over 10 years he and his bride would move 23 times. Having enough of that nomadic life, he went to work for General Motors in their defense division, where he obtained several patents for developing new metal alloys and worked on projects for NASA, among other things.

“When I went off to college, he told me I couldn’t go to any of the demonstrations at Purdue or he would lose his [security] clearance,” said Akers. “They were pretty strict during those years of the Cold War.”

After retiring, the Spicers moved to Arizona, which is where they were when Wilson Spicer died, and Leila then moved to Dade County to be nearer to her daughter.

“It was too hot in most places, but we lived in Prescott, which is a mile high, so it was usually fairly pleasant,” Spicer said of living in Arizona.

After visiting many places and having many adventures in her life, including travels to Europe and driving across Canada, Spicer said she agrees with a sentiment expressed by several of her generation:

“Life is short; eat dessert first!”