City woman, son get coveted inauguration pass

When Elisabeth Epps was 11 years old, her parents dragged her to Richmond to watch the inauguration of L. Douglas Wilder, the nation’s first elected black governor.

Epps, 29, remembers sitting on the curb as the parade passed by. It was crowded. She was cold, and maybe a little annoyed.

But looking back on that day — Jan. 14, 1990 — Epps appreciates that she witnessed such an important moment of American history.

On Tuesday, Epps will bring her 11-year-old son to Washington to see Barack Obama sworn in as the first black president of the United States.

“I love that I’m getting a chance to do with my son what my parents did with me,” said Epps, a Charlottesville resident and student at the University of Virginia School of Law.

Epps and her son, Tyler, are among the lucky few recipients of tickets to Obama’s inauguration.

Only 240,000 such tickets exist, with roughly half going to Obama’s staff, campaign workers and dignitaries and the other half going to House and Senate offices for distribution to constituents, local and state officials, and others.

Epps and her son volunteered with the campaign of U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello, D-Ivy, who narrowly unseated Republican incumbent Virgil H. Goode Jr. in a Nov. 4 upset. Perriello’s office, which was allotted only 198 inauguration tickets, notified Epps on Monday that she had won four tickets in a lottery.

An estimated 1,000 residents of the 5th Congressional District — which includes Charlottesville and the counties of Albemarle, Buckingham, Fluvanna, Greene and Nelson — had entered their names in the ticket lottery.

“I am so thrilled,” Epps said. “I kept calling and calling Perriello’s office. … I needed to be able to tell my son’s future self that I did anything and everything I possibly could to get us a ticket.”

Epps had also requested tickets from U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Jim Webb, but struck out in both cases. Warner and Webb were allotted 393 tickets each, but were mobbed with requests. A Webb spokeswoman said Thursday that her office had received upward of 40,000 requests for tickets.

“Perriello had some good luck in the last couple months,” Epps said. “I think some of his luck must have rubbed off on me.”

Perriello, who will also attend Obama’s inauguration, said he feels “blessed” to have an opportunity to see Obama sworn in as America’s 44th president.

“Looking down the Mall where the March on Washington occurred and seeing Barack Obama inaugurated will be a profound moment for all of us,” Perriello said.

In Perriello’s view, the inauguration of Obama, a former community organizer, is the ascendancy of the “public service generation,” whose members are less interested in partisanship than in improving the nation.

Moreover, Perriello said, Obama’s inauguration marks an important chapter in black history that “speaks to the greatness of this country.”

“I was honored to be on the ballot along with Barack Obama in this historic election year,” Perriello said. “I can’t even put into words what this inauguration means to me. So I can’t even imagine what it must be like for those in the African-American community, particularly those who lived through civil rights. This is truly transformative.”

Kristin Szakos, the Obama campaign’s volunteer coordinator for the Charlottesville area, is another local resident who has one of the much-coveted inaugural tickets. Szakos, who says she hates cold weather, said she won’t mind braving the massive crowds, tight security and icy temperatures if it means she will be able to watch Obama sworn into office.

“I know that I’ll cry,” said Szakos, who will attend with her husband, Joe. “We’ll be able to be there at the moment that it actually happens. That’s pretty incredible.”

In addition to the swearing-in ceremony, the Szakoses are planning to attend the Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, a lower-priced ball that evening. Obama and his wife, Michelle, are slated to drop by before attending nine other official inaugural balls.

When asked if she had ever attended a presidential inauguration before, Szakos replied: “Oh, no, no, no, no. I’d never even been involved in a campaign before. Never really cared before now.”