2009.01.20: January 20, 2009: Headlines: COS - Brazil: Obama: Inauguration: Third Goal: Providence Journal: Brazil RPCV Lucy Mueller to march as Peace Corps Volunteer in Obama Inauguration Parade
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2009.01.20: January 20, 2009: Headlines: COS - Brazil: Obama: Inauguration: Third Goal: Providence Journal: Brazil RPCV Lucy Mueller to march as Peace Corps Volunteer in Obama Inauguration Parade
Brazil RPCV Lucy Mueller to march as Peace Corps Volunteer in Obama Inauguration Parade
She said that she was surprised to discover that her fellow Peace Corps marchers "who aren't particularly military-oriented, were able to form straight lines. They're quite a group." She said that a cold breeze was setting the marchers' flags aflutter. The flags represent the the nations that the volunteers have served in. Mueller is the only Rhode Islander in the contingent, and the only volunteer who has served in Brazil. Mueller said she got her slot in the parade through a lottery. The marchers have to provide their own housing, however. As for watching Obama take the oath, "We saw the swearing-in after a fashion," she said. "We were bused into the White House Elipse. They have huge tents -- heated no less. They had some televisions, but they weren't very big. But people were very quiet, so we could all hear even if we couldn't see."
Brazil RPCV Lucy Mueller to march as Peace Corps Volunteer in Obama Inauguration Parade
Wakefield Peace Corps marcher listened in heated tent
2:37 PM Tue, Jan 20, 2009 | Permalink
Donita Naylor Email
By Thomas J. Morgan
Journal staff writer
Lucy Mueller, 67, of Wakefield, is part of a Peace Corps contingent that traveled to Washington to take part in the parade.
"We are lined up now for the parade, ready to start marching, but first we have to march to where the parade begins," Mueller reported at 1:55 p.m.
She said that she was surprised to discover that her fellow Peace Corps marchers "who aren't particularly military-oriented, were able to form straight lines. They're quite a group."
She said that a cold breeze was setting the marchers' flags aflutter. The flags represent the the nations that the volunteers have served in. Mueller is the only Rhode Islander in the contingent, and the only volunteer who has served in Brazil.
Mueller said she got her slot in the parade through a lottery. The marchers have to provide their own housing, however.
As for watching Obama take the oath, "We saw the swearing-in after a fashion," she said. "We were bused into the White House Elipse. They have huge tents -- heated no less. They had some televisions, but they weren't very big. But people were very quiet, so we could all hear even if we couldn't see."
Lucy Mueller, Peace Corps alumna
01:00 AM EST on Sunday, January 18, 2009
Growing up on a farm in Iowa, Lucy Mueller never imagined that she would one day participate in ceremonial events for the inauguration of a U.S. president.
“I was going to walk in an inaugural parade? I don’t think so,” she says. “I’m adding this to the ‘Things I Never Would Have Imagined Possible as a Child’ list.”
But on Tuesday, Mueller, 67, will join a contingent of other Peace Corps alumni in the 1.6-mile parade that follows the swearing-in ceremony.
Mueller, who lives in Wakefield, served with the Peace Corps in Brazil for two years beginning in 1965. She put her name in a lottery to join the Peace Corps marching group.
“I said there’s no way I’m going to get it,” she says.
But she did. She was scheduled to take a train to Washington today and stay in Arlington, Va., with a longtime friend she met in the Peace Corps. Tomorrow, the two will do a “dry run” of how she will get from Arlington to the Metro stop where her contingent will gather at 7:30 on the day of the inauguration.
“We do not get to see the inauguration,” says Mueller. “I’m just going to program my VCR and I’ll watch it when I come back. To me, it’s a small trade-off. Just to walk in the parade to me is really exciting.”
— Richard Salit
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: January, 2009; Peace Corps Brazil; Directory of Brazil RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Brazil RPCVs; Presidents - Obama; Inauguration; The Third Goal; Rhode Island
When this story was posted in January 2009, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers 
 | Director Ron Tschetter: The PCOL Interview
Peace Corps Director Ron Tschetter sat down for an in-depth interview to discuss the evacuation from Bolivia, political appointees at Peace Corps headquarters, the five year rule, the Peace Corps Foundation, the internet and the Peace Corps, how the transition is going, and what the prospects are for doubling the size of the Peace Corps by 2011. Read the interview and you are sure to learn something new about the Peace Corps. PCOL previously did an interview with Director Gaddi Vasquez. |
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Story Source: Providence Journal
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Brazil; Obama; Inauguration; Third Goal
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