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Valley women ‘truly honored’ to serve at Obama inaugural
Proud parents from Youngstown and Warren watched the Jan. 20 inauguration of President Barack Obama, not just to see history in the making but to try to catch a glimpse of their daughters, who were members of the military contingent that helped coordinate the huge event.
Selected for the honor of being one of some 750 members of the Armed Forces Inaugural Committee, which includes all branches of the military, were Navy Reserve Petty Officer 2nd Class Pamela G. Washington, who grew up in Youngstown; and Air Force Master Sgt. Deanine R. Rogers, a Warren native.
“It felt wonderful to be a part of this extraordinary piece of history. It’s an experience that I will be able to share with my children and grandchildren,” said Washington, a 1983 graduate of The Rayen School and a 1999 graduate of Youngstown State University.
Rogers, a daughter of Faithful Smith of Warren and Carl E. Hudson of Youngstown, said she was “truly honored and excited” to play a role in such a significant event in American history.
Rogers is a 1986 graduate of Warren Western Reserve High School, where she was a member of the Reserve Officer Training Corps and National Honor Society and was a cheerleader. She is stationed with the 18th Communications Squadron at Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. As a member of AFIC, she was assigned as an assembly control communications noncommissioned officer.
“I don’t know if there was one single event or moment about the inauguration that stands out in my mind. It was just very exciting to be there and be part of history. It was absolutely an honor,” said Washington, daughter of Mattie Salestine Washington of Youngstown. Her AFIC job was to help parade participants get where they were supposed to be as the inaugural parade formed.
“It was a great opportunity for me to be there, representing the black community and wishing my grandparents could have lived to have seen a black man become president; and representing my military brothers and sisters. I could not be more honored,” she said.
Washington said she and Deanine did not know each other before the inauguration. But they were members of the same AFIC section and when introductions were made, they realized they had both been Mahoning Valley residents, and did meet.
Washington, who previously trained with the Naval Reserve unit at the Youngstown Air Reserve Base in Vienna, recently moved to Patuxent River, Md., where she works as civilian technician at the Naval Air Station health clinic there. Her military designation is hospital corpsman. While in Youngstown, she was employed as a victim’s advocate at Help Hotline Crisis Center.
Washington is not the only member of her family with ties to the Navy.
Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.