Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

If you take American citizenship for granted, as some of us do, you might be surprised at the emotions and intensity of those who pledge allegiance for the first time.

I had the good fortune Friday to speak to 32 new citizens who raised their right hands and promised to support and defend the U.S Constitution and the laws of the United States.

The group assembled at the federal building included people from Brazil, Canada, Russia, Mexico, Germany, the Philippines and many other lands.

Some of the new citizens said they were so excited they had trouble sleeping the night before. One said she found it hard to decide what to wear, having picked out 10 options from her closet days earlier.

For Alice Ball, who lives in North Pole with her husband Stephen and their four kids, the tears flowed freely.

“I am very proud to be an American,” said Ball, who was born in Africa and raised in Germany. “I am so proud to be an American.”

Her citizenship paperwork got lost in the system after Sept. 11, 2001 and wrong addressees, misplaced communications and other snags mushroomed into a serious threat of deportation. She said she followed all the rules and Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s office helped straighten everything out, assistance for which she will always be grateful.

The process was long and difficult, but worth it, Ball said, mentioning her husband Stephen and her children, Jean Paul, 18, Jahkayla, 12, Naomi, 8 and Bethany, 7.

Lupe Grammont enrolled in classes at the Literacy Council of Alaska to improve her English and she is now a board member of the agency, helping others.

With friends and family present, it was standing room only in the jury assembly room on the third floor. The ceremony, scheduled to be repeated five more times this year in Fairbanks, usually is held in the large courtroom down the hall, but the federal trial of former Mayor Jim Hayes is taking place there.

Magistrate Judge Terry Hall said that administering the oath of allegiance is the most enjoyable part of his job. He said he understands the feelings people have at these moments and he pulled out his naturalization certificate, which he earned at the age of 19.

Hall encouraged everyone to become involved and pick up information about registering to vote. “Yeah, I want that,” said Filipinas Dagohoy Cacal.

When it was my turn to speak, I read from one of the first connections in my family with the United States, found on the Ellis Island Web site.

In the first decade of the 20th Century, three of my four grandparents moved to the U.S. from Ireland, arriving in New York.

I showed the audience a copy of the manifest of the S.S. Columbia, which sailed from Derry on Sept. 23, 1905, carrying my grandfather, Owen Costello, in steerage, along with dozens of other Irish men and women.

He was 23 at the time, fresh off the farm. He had about $30 on him. He said he had not been in prison, in a mental institution or dependent on charity. He said his health was good and he was not a polygamist or an anarchist.

My father’s mother, Bridget Rynn, made the trip on the S.S. Furnessia in 1910. She listed her occupation as “servant” and she was going to meet with her sister in Brooklyn. She had

My grandparents worked hard all their lives. They saw America as a place that offered an opportunity to build a future for themselves and their descendants.

I imagine many of the 32 people who were happy to be at the federal building Friday had the same idea.

The new citizens are: Filipinas Dagohoy Cacal, Maxim Maleev, Lidiya Andreevna Shastitko, Su Yon Pierce, Richard Aumau Tuiletufuga, Eduardo Mario Wilner.

Debbie Ranson, Nadia Mendez Coleman, Maria Helena Hansen, Elvira Fernando Butkiewicz, Lin Suet Yu, David Ivanovich Yantsen, Anna Ivanovna Yantsen, Stefanie Plantrich.

Anna Mikhaila Prokopchuk, Rutilo Abarca Basurto, Ofelia Molina Shepard, Alice Akweley Ball, Kevin Thomas Berry, Ruslan Nickolievich Prokopchuk, Delia Cruz Ketzler, Marina Antunes Johnson, Leilani Winnifred Dickey, Rosemarie French.

Agrita Bralis Draba, Yolanda Rongcales Young, Judy Sandoval Martinez, Alison Rose Banks, Lesley Patricia Boudreau, Guadalupe Fernandez De Grammont, Myong Jin Lee, Alpi Bolivar Reyes Cruz.

Dermot Cole can be reached at cole@newsminer.com or 459-7530.