Woman Who Survived 1918 Flu, WWII, Succumbs To COVID-19

She lived a life of adventure that spanned two continents. She fell in love with a World War II fighter pilot, barely escaped Europe ahead of Benito Mussolini’s fascists, ground steel for the US war effort, and advocated for her disabled daughter in a far less enlightened time.

Photo Insert: Primetta Giacopini and her daughter, Dorene share a tender moment.

She was, her daughter said, someone who didn’t make a habit of giving up. And then this month, at age 105, Primetta Giacopini’s life ended the way it began — in a pandemic.

“I think my mother would have been around quite a bit longer” if she hadn’t contracted COVID, her 61-year-old daughter, Dorene Giacopini, said. “She was a fighter. She had a hard life and her attitude always was ... basically, all Americans who were not around for World War II were basically spoiled brats,” Todd Richmond reported for the Associated Press (AP).

This year, during a visit on Sept. 9, Dorene noticed her mother was coughing. She knew her mother’s caretaker had been feeling sick after her husband returned from a wedding in Idaho. All three had been vaccinated. But as she drove away, Dorene guessed that her mother had contracted COVID-19.

“I made sure we said ‘I love you.’” She did the ‘See you later, alligator.’ I think we both said, ‘After a while, crocodile,’” Dorene said. “That was the last time I saw her.”

Two days later, Primetta was in the emergency room. Her oxygen levels dropped steadily over the next six days until nurses had to put an oxygen mask on her.

She became confused and fought them so hard she had to be sedated, Dorene said. Chest X-rays told the story: pneumonia. Faced with a decision of whether to put Primetta on a ventilator — “They said nobody over 80 makes it off a ventilator,” Dorene said — she decided to remove her mother’s oxygen.

Primetta died two days later, on Sept. 16. She was 105 years old. “She had such a strong heart that she remained alive for more than 24 hours after they removed the oxygen,” Dorene said.

“I’m full of maybes, what I should have done with the ventilator . . . (but) it broke through three vaccinated people.”

She added: “I’m reminding myself that she was 105. We always talk about ... my grandmother and mother, the only thing that could kill them was a worldwide pandemic.”

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