Political newbie Auditor Meacham sworn in with family, bagpipes

YOUNGSTOWN

Auditor Ralph T. Meacham, the first Republican elected to a nonjudicial Mahoning County-wide office here in 30 years, says he can “stay calm through firestorms.”

Meacham was sworn in as auditor late Tuesday afternoon before a packed house in the county courthouse rotunda.

Meacham was led in by Stephen Holter playing the bagpipes. Meacham’s 20-month-old grandson Connor Quinn accompanied him as his sergeant-at-arms.

Timothy G. Welsh, a common pleas magistrate, sang “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” and “America the Beautiful,” both of which reverberated throughout the rotunda.

Meacham’s daughters, Bridget and Molly Meacham, both from Pittsburgh, led the Pledge of Allegiance. His sisters, Mary Kay Hemenway of Austin, Texas, and Nancy Meacham of Warren, and his life partner, Mary Alice Reese, were in the audience. Meacham took the oath of office from Judge Carol Robb of the 7th District Court of Appeals.

“Why the bagpipes?” Meacham asked in his remarks after he took his oath. “The bagpipes are impossible to ignore just like the voice of the people.”

“No one in our family is in politics, so this is a first for us,” Bridget Meacham said.

Read more about this new officeholder in Wednesday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.