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Old 03-05-2009, 08:24 AM #1
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BobbyB BobbyB is offline
In Remembrance
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: North Carolina
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BobbyB BobbyB is offline
In Remembrance
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 4,609
15 yr Member
Post New citizens enter a new world

New citizens enter a new world
British-born El Granada family receives special dispensation to hold citizenship ceremony at home a day for smiles, gratitude, tears

By Stacy Trevenon [ stacy@hmbreview.com ]
Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, Mar 04, 2009 - 02:02:03 pm PST

Just before the naturalization ceremony that made them Americans officially, from left, the Cross family - dad Brian, younger daughter Sarah and mom Irene - along with American caregiver Melissa Bent, read a communication that Irene Cross, who has Lou Gehrig's disease, is transferring to her computer screen.


It was the day they became Americans.

Surrounded by friends, immigration officials, and advocate and paralegal Lorena Galindo with Coastside Hope, on an outside deck of their El Granada home and seated near a vase of red roses, white lilies and blue irises, Brian and Irene Cross and 28-year-old daughter Sarah repeated the brief oath of citizenship after U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer Ross Berggren. Typically, such ceremonies take place at large public venues. But when disability or illness makes it difficult or impossible for an immigrant to get to a regular ceremony, USCIS sends officers to homes to administer the oath.

In this case, it meant the Cross family could take their long-dreamed-of step into American citizenship together as a family, with Brian and Sarah standing alongside mother Irene, who had been diagnosed 18 months ago with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Confined to a wheelchair, unable to speak or communicate without electronic assistance, her condition required the dispensation.

“We don’t do it very often, but when we need to, we do it,” said the quietly gracious Berggren.

“We feel like, why not come to them and make their dreams come true?” said Galindo, who through Coastside Hope had assisted the family with filling out the forms.

“It’s rather emotional for us as a group because of Irene’s situation,” said Brian, his words still tinged with a British clip. “It means we recognize this is our new homeland. We are happy to live in California, and it cements the fact we brought our lives from Great Britain to the U.S. and the fact that this place is where we belong … We feel at peace with being home in the U.S.”

Brian Cross, born near London, and Irene, born near Southampton, met in Bristol and married in 1968. In 1982, his work in the scientific-instrumentation field brought him to America, first to Wisconsin and then, in 1983, to California, where they discovered the Coastside.

“We hadn’t smelt the ocean in 18 months, and as soon as we smelt the kelp and seaweed, I said, ‘That’s it. We’re going to live here,’” said Brian.

With the couple came daughters Sarah, then 18 months old, and Anna, then 6, and all became permanent residents. Now, they will hold dual citizenship.

Both girls graduated from Half Moon Bay High School: Anna in 1992 and Sarah in 1998. Anna, who attended the University of California, Los Angeles and is now a managing director with the San Gabriel Mission Playhouse theater company in Southern California, will apply later for citizenship.

Sarah danced professionally with the San Francisco Ballet but followed her father into science, getting her doctorate in physical chemistry and working with him in his business, CrossRoads Scientific, which supplies software to scientific companies and concerns worldwide. Her fiancé has a doctorate in chemical engineering and works for Lockheed.

Irene Cross, who was a teacher in England, became a homemaker and an avid volunteer with schools and with the San Francisco Ballet. In August 2007 she was diagnosed with ALS, a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease.

But the illness did not dampen her grit. “She’s a total go-getter,” said her daughter. “Part of our British heritage is never giving up. Mom is saying, ‘You can take away this, but I can overcome whatever is in my path.’ I think this is a way to show her spirit.”

Irene communicates through a DynaVox platform on her computer. A chip in her eyeglasses links to words, letters and common phrases on the onscreen panel, and through a special user interface she directs them to a message board. Her intelligent eyes fix on speakers, and when asked how she feels about becoming a citizen, she throws her head back and gives a half-sigh, half-sob of joy.

Taking the oath “validates the fact that I feel part of the community,” reads her message board, repeated by the computer in an electronic voiceover customized with a British accent.

Her family agreed. “Part of why we came to the U.S. is that the economy is better, there are so many opportunities and the people are more open. It’s more relaxed,” said Brian. “I’ve done a lot of things that wouldn’t have been possible when I was in the U.K. I wish we’d done this 20 years ago.”

“I do consider myself American for the most part,” said Sarah. “Some of me is connected to the U.K. because it is my heritage, but this is more just clarifying, a confirmation of the fact we are part of the U.S. officially.”

The ceremony was emotional for more than just the family.

“I grew up in Virginia so I am real excited about this,” said Melissa Bent, for whom Irene Cross is the second ALS patient she has served as a caregiver.

“Mr. Cross told us about his wife, and it really made me want to help them,” said Galindo. “I felt really honored.”

Emotions grew after the oath was completed, the family clutched small American flags handed out by the USCIS officials, and all present burst into an impromptu rendition of “God Bless America.”

“Happy,” was what Irene Cross spelled out on her computer screen.

“America is lucky to have the Crosses as citizens,” said a tearful Bent.

“She really wanted to do this before she passed,” said Brian Cross of his wife. “Somehow she felt unfinished.”


read more of this here at.
http://www.hmbreview.com/articles/20...d081913928.txt
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