Pee Dee residents, groups head to Washington for inauguration

The 44th presidential inauguration is days away and millions are expected to fill the streets of Washington, D.C.
Among those are representatives from at least four Pee Dee schools. Students from Lester Elementary, Williams Middle and Wilson High schools in Florence School District 1 and Mayo High School for Math, Science & Technology in Darlington County will participate in the inauguration activities as part of a class trip to the nation’s capital.
Several other people will make the more than six-hour drive north. Here are a few of them:

NAME: Jane Pigg
AGE: 56
LOCATION: Cheraw
OCCUPATION: President and chief executive officer of Pee Dee Broadcasting LLC and Pee Dee Publishing LLC and owner of MyFM 93.9 and 1420 WCRE and The Link newspaper in Cheraw
WHY YOU’RE GOING: “The presidential inauguration is such a special event. To see the next leader of the greatest country in the world sworn into office is a memory that will last a lifetime. When I attended the last presidential inauguration in 2005, my niece Lauren was so impressed. She has always loved politics. I promised her that I’d take her to the next one and four years later, here we are.”

NAME: Lauren Davis
AGE: 18
LOCATION: Chesterfield
OCCUPATION: Chesterfield High School senior and student body president
WHY YOU’RE GOING: “I’m very excited to be going to the inauguration. I know it will be an experience of a lifetime. I love Washington. My eighth-grade middle school band played on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and last summer I was the Lynches River Electric Co-operative Youth Representative to Washington. I’m very interested in government and the political process. I’ve run for election myself and worked with local campaigns (state Rep. Ted Vick), so I’m somewhat familiar with the election process. This is the ultimate inauguration and I’m very lucky to get the opportunity to witness it in person.”

NAME: The Rev. Norman Gamble
AGE: 50
LOCATION: Florence
OCCUPATION: Pastor of New Ebenezer Church in Florence
WHY YOU’RE GOING: “Just to be in the atmosphere of this historic moment. I was blessed to be a part of the Million Man March in 1996 and I think that there are events like this that occur, sometimes, once in a lifetime. Not to have the opportunity to share with my family would be a travesty.”

NAME: Zack Hester
AGE: 19
LOCATION: Marion
OCCUPATION: Student at North Carolina State University in Raleigh majoring in aerospace engineering and political science
WHY YOU’RE GOING: “It’s certainly a historical occasion in our history, but also I worked for Barack Obama’s campaign during the South Carolina primaries. I had already been a big supporter of his, so when I got the chance to get a ticket, I took up the opportunity.”

NAME: Joe Brown
OCCUPATION: Owner of Williamsburg Charter LLC
LOCATION: Kingstree
WHY YOU’RE GOING: “It’s going to be a historical event. I booked rooms back in August just on faith. When I did, everybody said, ‘You’re crazy.’ There are a lot of things that happen in life and this was one I thought I would never live long enough to see, to see a black person be nominated for president. I don’t need to see him, I just want to be in the crowd.”

NAME: Pearl Brown
LOCATION: Kingstree
OCCUPATION: Owner of Williamsburg Charter LLC
LOCATION: Kingstree
WHY YOU’RE GOING: “This inauguration is a first for America. We’re all proud of Barack Obama, for not only being president, but for the race he ran, the person that he is, the things that he stands for and his vision of what America could be like. We’re all excited about it. I want to be there for the event and since we own the charter company, I felt like there would be others in the community who felt the same as I do.”

NAME: Trip DuBard
AGE: 48
LOCATION: Florence
OCCUPATION: Palmetto Horizon Foundation executive director
WHY YOU’RE GOING: “I wanted my son (Ben, 11) to be there. I think it’s an important, historical event. My older two kids, (Adam, 16, and Mary, 12) are going to be there with the (International Baccalaureate) program from Williams (Middle School) and Wilson (High School). My youngest is interested (in going) and I thought it would be a great thing for him to be engaged in.”

NAME: Ashley Byrd
AGE: 19
LOCATION: Florence
OCCUPATION: Student at Florence-Darlington Technical College majoring in biology with a minor in foreign language
WHY YOU’RE GOING: “I was invited (to attend the inauguration). I went to the National Youth Leadership Forum on medicine as (part of the University Presidential Inaugural Conference) and was invited to this because of my outstanding contributions to the forum. I will be witnessing a part of history and I would like to know more about how our government works.”