102-year-old New York man strives for perfection through pottery

At 102, George Strausman still drives himself to pottery class every Thursday afternoon at Great Neck Public Schools, where he spends three hours shaping clay on a wheel surrounded by classmates roughly 40 years his junior. A TikTok video of him at work, posted March 9 by his granddaughter Francesca Rietti, drew more than 3.1 million views and nearly 2,000 comments, making "Grandpa George," as his family calls him, an unlikely viral sensation.

Strausman, born in New York City on March 25, 1924, started the weekly pottery class at age 94 through the Great Neck Public Schools Community Education Program. A decade later, he has not missed a beat. His teacher, Rosalie Dornstein, 86, has run the class for approximately 30 years and describes Strausman as unlike anyone she has taught. "Everybody knows George, everybody loves George. He's definitely a star. He's always been famous for us," Dornstein said. "He has a fascination with the wheel, which is not so easy for people even half his age. Some of his pieces are really lovely."

The pottery is only one thread of a much larger pattern. Four days a week, Strausman goes into the office of his family's construction business, a company he joined at 18 as a superintendent with no prior experience and later built, alongside his brother, into an enterprise that constructed apartments, houses, and a nursing home. His three children now run daily operations, but Strausman remains present. "I come to the office and give them a little advice," he said.

Jennifer Andersen, director of community education at Great Neck Public Schools, has watched him arrive week after week with the same consistency. "He drives himself here, he comes, he chats it up with everybody. To come here and remain committed to it every week is truly inspirational for all of us," she said.

Strausman's Thursday routine offers a working model of what researchers describe as purposeful aging. After reading the morning comics and spending time at the office, he joins a Zoom poetry class, writing verses many of them addressed to his wife Nancy, to whom he has been married for nearly 66 years, before heading to the pottery studio. The couple has three children, 11 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. His ceramic pieces are displayed in all 11 grandchildren's homes, and Rietti plans to hold a giveaway of his work on his birthday.

A 2020 peer-reviewed study published in the journal Dementia found that pottery workshops improved mood and well-being in participants, with creative engagement beneficial regardless of baseline condition. Broader research on visual art therapy in aging adults has shown improvements in episodic memory and language fluency. Strausman arrived at a similar conclusion through practice alone. "Anything that keeps your hands busy is great for you, whatever you do," he said.

When pressed on what has kept him vital at 102, he does not reach for dramatic explanations. "My health is good. Everybody I love is well. I can pay my bills. What should I be complaining about? I've had a really wonderful life," he said. The foundation of that life, he is clear, is Nancy. "Most of what has made life good for me has been my wife, because she's such a terrific person," Strausman said. "I got a great wife."

CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman, whose "On the Road" segment has earned him four national Emmy Awards and 14 RTNDA/Edward R. Murrow Awards, profiled Strausman's story. Strausman gave up tennis at 90 when it grew too hard on his body, but he replaced it not with rest but with clay, poetry, and the particular satisfaction of still having something to learn.