Rudi Heider turned 107 on April 29th and, on the same day, met all of the benchmarks for recovery from COVID-19. It is believed that he is the oldest person in the United States to have survived the disease.
Rudi received the usual gifts…balloons, cards, a lemon meringue pie (his favorite), but seeing his visiting son Robert and his granddaughter Janet (through his apartment window) for the first time since January was really something special.
There was a period when Rudi says he didn’t think he would survive, but his granddaughter Janet Heider of Washington State reminded him how far he’s come.
She told him “You have lived through the Spanish Flu, two World Wars, survived a stroke at 100 years old, recovered from a bad fall with fractured vertebrae at 104 years old and now you have beat COVID-19. I told him ‘God has plans for you.’ I told him ‘You’ve overcome so much’, so you’re not done yet.”
Now he’s back in his apartment at Friendship Village Chesterfield and is gaining strength, surrounded by caregivers and his things, including several sweaters knitted by his late wife Lorraine. He still wears those sweaters. They remind him of her and the sixty-one years they spent together before she passed away in 2000. They remind him of Guadalajara, Mexico where they spend wintes and where she knitted those cherished sweaters for him.
“I don’t know why I was allowed to survive (COVID-19) when others weren’t,” Rudi said.
But Rudi is living for today. He learned ballroom dancing a few years ago at 104 because his girlfriend, who also lives at Friendship Village Chesterfield, wanted to dance with him.
He said he’s most looking forward to getting his strength back enough to read about politics and financial journals and “sexy stories,” he said jokingly. And he’s looking forward to being able to be with people again.
When asked if he had any words of wisdom, he simply said those words are “Hello. How are you?” He chose those words of because that’s how you meet people and Rudi says he really misses people. “I’m missing all the nice things from people because of this disease. Each person is so different. I like people and all their different talents.”
Rudy’s story has gone around the world in the last few days as he’s become something of a celebrity as people get to see a little bit of Rudi’s sweetness. He’s happy to talk to people. That’s easy to see.
“He’s so loving, intelligent and strong,” said his granddaughter who recently told him she would get on a plane to hold his hand if he thought he was going to pass away because Rudi said he was so afraid to die alone. And now Rudi just has to wait a little bit longer to hold Janet’s hand in CELEBRATION, since like so many, he’s isolated for his own protection.
When Janet visits Rudi, she said she always sings You are My Sunshine through the door before she even knocks. He calls her his “Sunshine.”
We can’t wait for day of that very special visit when Rudy gets to hug his “Sunshine” again.