When Barack Obama takes the oath of office Tuesday to become the first African American to serve as President of the United States, there will be tears of joy shared by many individuals in Upshur County. Among them will be retired teachers and coaches who never expected to see the day in their lifetimes.

Leading members of the Upshur County African American community gathered at the Dairy Queen Thursday to discuss with The Mirror their feelings about what the inauguration means to them.

“I am so happy that as a person who is just in the third generation from slavery, I am able to see this happen,” said Ella Hale Webb, a native of the Valley View community and Gilmer resident. Her grandfather was in slavery, and her father older than most when she was born. Mrs. Webb teaches at Jarvis Christian College, lives in Gilmer, and still attends the Valley View Baptist Church.

“My father said to me that he never expected to see a black president in his time, and he did not expect it in my time either,” Mrs. Webb continued.

“I did not really think about it,” said Gloria King, retired Gilmer teacher and member of the Gilmer School Board. “I think I always had hope, but I did not really think about it much.”

“On election night, I was both nervous and excited. I had a feeling it was going to happen,” she continued.

“I was also praying to God for our young black men. Now we have hope,” stated Mrs. King, the educator of many Gilmer youths, black, white and brown.

Anderson King took a little different perspective.

“I always expected progress,” King said. “‘We must do some things for ourselves,’ my Daddy said.”

When asked, Henry Jackson, retired coach and former assistant principal at Gilmer Junior High, admitted to crying for joy when he watched Obama accept the nomination of the Democratic Party and again when the tall, lithe former basketball player appeared at Grant Park in Chicago to celebrate his election.

“I was raised in Louisiana where we rode in the back of the bus and had to be home by 9 o’clock,” said the former coach of Gilmer Athletic Director Jeff Traylor and a generation of young men. “I never thought I would see a day like this one in my lifetime.”

“When I married Shirley, we stopped in Alexandria to buy gasoline,” Jackson, a member of the board of Upshur Rural Electric, continued. “They would not let her use a rest room, and I stopped pumping gas at that moment.”

“When I was growing up, I was in the dirt picking cucumbers, and I hated it,” said Shirley Jackson, the retired music teacher at Gilmer Elementary and Gilmer Intermediate for many years. “My father said that if I did not want to be a farmer, and I did not want to pick cotton, then you have to get an education.”

Mrs. Jackson was among the earliest of the black students to attend Stephen F. Austin State University, and she paid her way in part by playing music to entertain guests at the country club.

“In our culture, we knew how to survive the father being sold away from the family,” Mrs. Jackson reflected as the discussion drifted to the presence of so many families raised by a single mother. “Not everyone had a good job.”

In fact, even when one had a good income, the respect was not always there.

Anderson King remembered that when he and Gloria were buying a house on Harrison St. an incident occurred.

“I was told ‘We accept pigs before nigs around here.’” said King. The couple has since moved south of town where he and his wife vote in the Pritchett box.

“I pray to God that everything will go right Tuesday,” Mrs. Jackson said as she nervously admitted fears for people who would harm the young President-elect.

Other persons in the community added their feelings about the Obama Presidency.

“I believe God had a plan for him,” said Frankie Lindley, one of the oldest surviving matriarchs in the Black community. “I think he will make a good president, and I am behind him 100 percent.”

Gwen Jewett and Velma Franklin, two “pink ladies” at ETMC Gilmer, offered different perspectives on the matter. Ms. Jewett came to Upshur County just four years ago with her husband whom she married in California. She graduated from high school in 1975 so she does not have the deep scars from the “Jim Crow” era, even if she lived in Palestine until she was 13.

Mrs. Franklin grew up in Pine Grove, attended the Valley View schools first and then graduated from Bruce High School in 1956.

“That man was appointed by God to run for the office,” said Mrs. Franklin. “Too many things fell into place for God not to have a hand in it,” the hospital auxiliary volunteer continued.

“I think the inauguration is great,” said her younger counterpart, Ms. Jewett, “but I am glad I will not be there because of the large crowds that are expected.”

For Melvin Webb, who returned to Gilmer to retire after 42 years in Houston, the Obama administration will culminate a life of changes.

“I never expected him to be elected even when I saw him running,” said the member of the district champion football team for the Bruce Dragons in 1951. “I did not think that America was ready to elect an African American.”

“I think he can do a good job if they give him help,” Webb continued. “We have come a long way since I was a little boy.”

For Barbara Moore Fluellen, a delegate to the Texas State Democratic Party Convention in June, the occasion is one for special celebration.

“I am going to my sister’s house in Arlington this weekend, and the whole family is gathering to celebrate,” said Mrs. Fluellen. “We are going to the Martin Luther King Day parade together, and then we are going to do some service projects together.”

Through his web site, the President-elect has urged the 13 million members who signed up for his campaign to celebrate ML King Day with a Day of Service. His supporters can find on the web numerous ways they can contribute to their local communities by taking food to food banks, helping at homeless shelters, learning how to prepare for emergencies in one’s home, or by attending Martin Luther King Day events.

Then the delegate is taking a personal business day so she can remain in Arlington on Tuesday to watch the president take his oath in the company of family.

“When I went to vote, I wore a broach owned by my aunt and a picture of my grandfather so they were with me,” the Camp County native said. “That brought up so many memories of my father telling me when he could not vote. Now we as a family are going to get together, pray together for him, and watch together. He has put his life on the line for us. I am as excited as I can be.”

mlkirby@tatertv.com