(The following story by Deb Price and David Shepardson appeared on the Detroit News website on January 17, 2009.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A truck driver from Taylor played a prominent role Saturday on president-elect Barack Obama’s whistle stop train bound for Washington and his inauguration as the nation’s 44th president.
Teamster Roy Gross and his girlfriend, Paula O’Rourke, were among 41 “everyday” Americans riding on a 137-mile train trip from Philadelphia to the capital.
The best moment so far for Gross came at a stop in Wilmington, Del., when Obama, speaking to a crowd, mentioned him by name.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” said Gross, who was standing near the president. “I burst into the biggest grin.”
Obama said he would carry the stories of Gross and other everyday Americans with him into the White House.
Obama told the crowd, “Roy has watched as his friends have lost jobs, while the plants have shuttered their doors. He wants to see American industry build the cars of tomorrow and jobs that let working people leave their children a better life. We will carry his story with us to Washington.”
Obama and his wife, Michelle, strolled through the train car in which the Michigan couple rode. Gross and the others sang “Happy Birthday” to Michelle Obama, who turned 45 Saturday.
Gross got two autographs from the president-elect, and one from Joe Biden, the vice president-elect.
The trucker will attend inaugural festivities through Tuesday, when Obama and Biden and are sworn in and host 10 inaugural balls. Among Gross’ favorite souvenirs so far are the security credentials he has to wear. He also was thrilled to be part of a presidential motorcade that took Obama and his entourage to speak to a crowd in Baltimore.
“You don’t want for red lights in a motorcade, that’s for sure,” said Gross, who munched on sandwiches, chocolate chip cookies and pop for lunch on the train as he waved from the window to well-wishers who hoped to get a glimpse of Obama.
Meanwhile Saturday, other Michiganians started off in planes, buses and cars to be part of the celebration of swearing in.
Paula Keena, a reserve volunteer officer in the Michigan Multijurisdictional Mounted Police Drill Team and Color Guard, is driving all night. Her group includes 31 people and 22 horses. That requires five minivans, three other vehicles, and two horse haulers.
“The horses have leg wraps, shipping boots, and blankets. They’re traveling in luxury,” said Keena, who will be one of the riders in the inaugural parade Tuesday.
At the front of the Michigan contingent will be three riders carrying an American flag, Michigan state flag, and Michigan Horse Council flag.
“I’m just glad we’re finally on the road. It took a lot of preparation. You can’t just check into a hotel with 22 horses,” said Kenna, explaining that the horses will stay at a nearby horse center in Maryland.
Julie Taylor is a parent on a two-bus caravan that started out this morning from Roosevelt High School in Wyandotte.
Her son Philip, 16, will play the bass drum with the school’s marching band in the Inaugural Parade. The student musicians’ larger equipment — tubas, drums — as well as uniforms are traveling behind the bus in a trailer hitched to a pickup truck.
The group totals 91 students and 20 adults.
“We’re doing very well. The kids have been eating out of goodie bags provide by the Wyandotte Democratic Club. We’re got a movie playing on a DVD and the kids have their i-Pods going. It’s great so far,” she added.
The band will perform the University of Michigan’s fight song, “The Victors.” In 1996, Roosevelt’s band performed for President Clinton during his visit to Wyandotte. But this is its first appearance in an inaugural parade.
Northwest Airlines added at least three Sunday and Monday flights to meet demands from Detroit.
The airlines used larger Boeing 757 airplanes that can accommodate 180 passengers — 50 more than the traditional A320 plane usually used on the Detroit-to-Washington route.
Doug and Andrea Van Houweling of Ann Arbor discovered at the airport that they’d left behind four tickets for Tuesday’s Michigan Inaugural Ball. They plan to have their son send the tickets to them by overnight mail.
“We just want to be there on this very, very important day,” said Andrea Van Houweling.
Doug, who is a member of the faculty of University of Michigan School of Information and is CEO of the non-for-profit Internet 2 corporation, said, “I’m more interested in all of the people and how they react. Frankly, I can watch the speech from home.”
At Washington Reagan National Airport, people snapped up Obama souvenirs from temporary stands.
“It’s pretty amazing. This was the first election I could vote in,” said Bryan Van Duinen of Grand Rapids, a 19-year-old student at the University of Michigan. He missed a bus to the Detroit airport and had to pay $50 cab fare to make his flight to Washington.
Interviewed on his flight from Detroit to Washington, U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Menominee, said Obama had won his congressional district by about 800 votes — the first time a Democrat had done so since 1964. “We worked our tails off,” Stupak said, saying this will be the fifth inauguration he has attended.
Also on the flight with Stupak were Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, and Damon Keith, a senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals in Detroit, who met Obama at the funeral of Rosa Parks.
Keith, 86, had a pacemaker installed just a month ago, but wasn’t letting that stop him from attending the inauguration. “This is historic — something I never thought I would see in my lifetime,” said Keith.
He noted that Obama sent him flowers and called with condolences after Keith’s wife’s death in 2007. Obama, once a law professor, also taught about a landmark 1972 decision authored by Keith on domestic surveillance.
Other Michiganians are eager to be part of history.
“It’s once in a lifetime. It’s just the excitement of Obama,” said Karen Morris of Grand Rapids as she waited for her bags at Reagan Washington National Airport with three friends who had traveled to the capital for the inauguration. “He’s such an inspiring person, and he’s bringing the country together in ways you would never have thought possible.”
Northwest Airlines’ early afternoon flight included some political insiders traveling to the city after Friday night’s Detroit International Auto Show gala, including Rep. Sander Levin, D-Royal Oak, and Detroit political consultant Sam Riddle.
Riddle jokingly recalled his prediction shortly after Obama entered the presidential race in 2007: “No way he can win.”
“Unfortunately, it’s on tape,” Riddle said as he waited for his bags. Now, he said, he’ll attend what he called “the feel-good moment” of recent political history. “It just feels good to be here,” he said.