Today, our friend and priest, Ian Elliott Davies, Welsh by birth, became an American citizen. He has been in the United States for eleven years, serving as the priest at St. Thomas the Apostle, Hollywood, and his road to citizenship has taken all of that time. Today when we picked him to go downtown to the LA Convention Center, I asked him how he was feeling. “I’m so excited,” he said. “I’ve been texting and emailing everyone I can think of to let them know.”
There were slightly more than 3000 people who became citizens today in the LA swearing-in ceremony. The top countries represented were 5) China; 4) Iran; 3) El Salvador; 2) the Philippines; and 1) Mexico. I had to wonder if Ian was the sole representative from Wales this time round.
Here is Ian, Ron and Ray as we arrived. Of course, Father Davies elected to be sworn in wearing full Anglican regalia.
Here are our daughters Sarah and Liz with Ian along with Luna and Liz’s boyfriend, Ron. Of course, we all came (except Rachael who is in Texas) since Ian is an honorary member of our family.
The room where we sat could hold up to 6,000 people so it was only half-full today. We had the American flag up front, a dais where the Judge sat who swore everyone in and then delivered a speech, and a screen where two videos were shown: one of President Obama welcoming everyone as new citizens, and a second of Lee Greenwood singing his song “Proud to be an American.” Afterward a singer delivered a beautiful rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and then we all recited the Pledge of Allegiance. The whole swearing in took no more than 30 minutes.
All guests were then asked to leave and the new citizens went to assigned tables where they turned in all legal documents related to their immigration in exchange for their new documents stating they were now Americans. Here is Ian afterwards showing off his official paper to a group of parishioners from St. Thomas the Apostle who had come down to lend him support.
A group shot of more well-wishers:
Ian displaying his new “American” tee shirt:
Here were three other little supporters waiting for their new citizen:
We then went to lunch in downtown LA to celebrate our new fellow countryman. Here is Ian with Luna, post-induction and lunch:
What a special day for our beloved friend. He seemed very happy to have finally achieved his goal of American citizenship. The best part is that he gets to maintain dual citizenship with Britain, so there was no renouncing of his mother country.
Well done, my friend. Now you can vote and be an active member of this country you so clearly love. Hurrah!
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