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Cherring Spence: Early COVID Spread, Educating the Community, and Building Trust
In 2021, a coalition of national museum and library associations awarded the Peale (Baltimore, Maryland) a Communities for Immunity grant. The goal of the project is for trusted, local institutions to engage their communities in order to boost COVID-19 vaccine confidence. Since being awarded the grant, we've been gathering stories from people about their experiences with COVID and getting the vaccine.
Cherring Spence (00:00): Hello, my name is Cherring Spence. I'm from Elizabeth City, North Carolina originally, but I've lived in Baltimore now for almost 50 years.
Whitney Frazier (00:11): And what part of Baltimore?
Cherring Spence (00:13): I live in Northwest Baltimore.
Whitney Frazier (00:15): And anything else about yourself that we should know? How many grandkids do you have?
Cherring Spence (00:21): Oh, now, don't get me talking about the grandkids now. We'll be up here forever. I have both grandchildren and great-grands. I have eight grandchildren and I have six great-grands with two on the way.
Whitney Frazier (00:45): Okay. We'll leave it at that. So in the past couple years, we've all been through it, but we want to hear a little bit about your experience with dealing with COVID and how you've handled it and how your family and you have worked together to get through this hard time.
Cherring Spence (01:09): Well, COVID has... I don't even know how to start with COVID. Thankfully, I personally have not contracted COVID, but it certainly hit many people that I know. Many people that I know have died from COVID. I've had nephews and cousins and my son, his wife, and all that, have had COVID. Thankfully they have survived. My immediate family, thankfully, they have survived.
Cherring Spence (01:51): When COVID hit, of course, we, like others, had never heard of it. We knew nothing of COVID. My mother died January 29th, 2020, and at the time my mom died, we didn't know anything about COVID. My mom's funeral was very large. My mom was organized, as she'd worked in the community and all for years, and so her funeral was very well-attended.
Cherring Spence (02:28): But what ended up happening when we all returned to Baltimore in different areas from the funeral, we found that quite a few were sick. My son came back sick. My granddaughters' mom and sister came back sick. And there were quite a few other family members, almost 20 all together, that were sick, and we had no idea what was wrong with them. And I called, because the only thing we all had in common was the fact that we had attended my mom's funeral. And some made the funeral, but didn't make the repass. Some made the viewing, but didn't make the funeral. So the only thing we had in common was that one thing, that one gathering.
Cherring Spence (03:26): And so I called my sister, who happens to be a nurse in North Carolina, and I asked her if there was any kind of virus, anything that was going on there. And she told me no, that they had some people that had come in with the flu, but no more than usual. And I asked her again, "Are you sure there's nothing? You all haven't had a big influx of people at the hospital?" And she said, "No. No, not at all." I said, "Well, something is happening." I said, "Something is going on, because there are about 20 of us that are back here and sick." And I said, "And you know we've been going to North Carolina for 30 years now for my mom's birthday, which would've been the following week. So we would've been going to North Carolina that weekend anyway."
Asset ID: 2022.05.14
Find a complete transcription on the Peale's website. Photo of Cherring Spence by Kirby Griffin.
The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in the recordings for this project do not necessarily represent those of the Peale or the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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By The PealeIn 2021, a coalition of national museum and library associations awarded the Peale (Baltimore, Maryland) a Communities for Immunity grant. The goal of the project is for trusted, local institutions to engage their communities in order to boost COVID-19 vaccine confidence. Since being awarded the grant, we've been gathering stories from people about their experiences with COVID and getting the vaccine.
Cherring Spence (00:00): Hello, my name is Cherring Spence. I'm from Elizabeth City, North Carolina originally, but I've lived in Baltimore now for almost 50 years.
Whitney Frazier (00:11): And what part of Baltimore?
Cherring Spence (00:13): I live in Northwest Baltimore.
Whitney Frazier (00:15): And anything else about yourself that we should know? How many grandkids do you have?
Cherring Spence (00:21): Oh, now, don't get me talking about the grandkids now. We'll be up here forever. I have both grandchildren and great-grands. I have eight grandchildren and I have six great-grands with two on the way.
Whitney Frazier (00:45): Okay. We'll leave it at that. So in the past couple years, we've all been through it, but we want to hear a little bit about your experience with dealing with COVID and how you've handled it and how your family and you have worked together to get through this hard time.
Cherring Spence (01:09): Well, COVID has... I don't even know how to start with COVID. Thankfully, I personally have not contracted COVID, but it certainly hit many people that I know. Many people that I know have died from COVID. I've had nephews and cousins and my son, his wife, and all that, have had COVID. Thankfully they have survived. My immediate family, thankfully, they have survived.
Cherring Spence (01:51): When COVID hit, of course, we, like others, had never heard of it. We knew nothing of COVID. My mother died January 29th, 2020, and at the time my mom died, we didn't know anything about COVID. My mom's funeral was very large. My mom was organized, as she'd worked in the community and all for years, and so her funeral was very well-attended.
Cherring Spence (02:28): But what ended up happening when we all returned to Baltimore in different areas from the funeral, we found that quite a few were sick. My son came back sick. My granddaughters' mom and sister came back sick. And there were quite a few other family members, almost 20 all together, that were sick, and we had no idea what was wrong with them. And I called, because the only thing we all had in common was the fact that we had attended my mom's funeral. And some made the funeral, but didn't make the repass. Some made the viewing, but didn't make the funeral. So the only thing we had in common was that one thing, that one gathering.
Cherring Spence (03:26): And so I called my sister, who happens to be a nurse in North Carolina, and I asked her if there was any kind of virus, anything that was going on there. And she told me no, that they had some people that had come in with the flu, but no more than usual. And I asked her again, "Are you sure there's nothing? You all haven't had a big influx of people at the hospital?" And she said, "No. No, not at all." I said, "Well, something is happening." I said, "Something is going on, because there are about 20 of us that are back here and sick." And I said, "And you know we've been going to North Carolina for 30 years now for my mom's birthday, which would've been the following week. So we would've been going to North Carolina that weekend anyway."
Asset ID: 2022.05.14
Find a complete transcription on the Peale's website. Photo of Cherring Spence by Kirby Griffin.
The views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in the recordings for this project do not necessarily represent those of the Peale or the Institute of Museum and Library Services.