A blind, 100-year-old veteran of the Second World War has won a beauty contest in an Alabama nursing home.

Felma Schrimshire, competing under the stage name Ms. Andalusia Manor, was crowned Ms. Alabama Nursing Home this week, beating nine other finalists.

"It was wonderful!" Mrs Schrimshire told oanow.com. "Everybody has just been so nice and so sweet and caring. It's just great. I don't know any other way to express it."

Mrs Schrimshire served in the surgeon's office during the war, according to National Public Radio.

"I was going into the Army myself," said the widow, whose husband's sight was too poor to join at the time. "Not many women were in the army back then, so much to my husband's relief, I got out after one year."

After her husband's death, she moved to Alabama. She now lives with her sister at Andalusia Manor, where she spends her time studying the Bible.

But it was her friendliness and warmth that won her the title, John Matson of the Alabama Nursing Home Association said.

"She really waved at the audience, saluted all three sections of the audience. She had a very lively presence on stage, and I think that won over the judges and the crowd as well," he said.

(Read by Christine Mallari. Christine Mallari is a journalist at the China Daily Website.)