Eye witnesses—Tomeika Garret and sister Marissa braved the cold and crowds to be a part of the historic presidential inauguration of Barack Obama in Washington D.C.

Stepping
into history

Tomeika Garrett can’t tell you exactly why she went to President Barack Obama’s inauguration. She just had to go.

"There wasn’t even a discussion about it,” she says.

Garrett, an academic adviser in General Education, joined her sister, Marissa, a student at UW Seattle, at the inauguration in January. Convinced that they should witness this historic moment, Garrett had purchased the airplane tickets right after the November election.

After a frustrating 13-hour trip, the two women found their lodgings — rented rooms in a private house, which they’d found on Craigslist. The morning of the inauguration, they arrived on the Capitol Mall at 7 a.m. and found space near the Washington Monument. They watched the inauguration on a huge screen nearby, but left when the area got too crowded for comfort.

“It was so packed that we were bumping into people. I didn’t want to take my camera or phone out of my pocket. We had to hold hands or we would have lost each other, Garrett says. “We heard the end of President Obama’s speech on a car radio.”

Despite the mayhem, Garrett says, being in the moment felt like being part of history.

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History making—Garret's experience was a once-in-a-lifetime event.

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“I found myself thinking, ‘Is this really happening?’” she says. “I’ve read the history about the Civil Rights era, the atrocities people had to go through to sit at a counter or earn the right to vote. Being there, seeing so many families and people who lived through it — it’s something I can’t put words to. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

—Jill Carnell Danseco

 

Forward March—Kristin Bagby '04 led the Ceremonial Honor Guard in the parade. (DoD photo by Chief Petty Officer Gordon Boozer, U.S. Coast Guard/Released)

focused on
the future

When faced with a challenge, Kristin Bagby, IAS ’04, never backs down.

As a figure skater, she developed painful arthritis and tendonitis that might have made another skater quit. But Bagby powered through for love of the sport.

As an officer-candidate in the U.S. Coast Guard, Bagby coveted a spot on the prestigious Ceremonial Honor Guard — despite being nearly four inches shorter than the required height. She fought for it, won it and now trains other members of the elite group and leads them in parades and ceremonies.

And when Bagby learned that she has breast cancer, she accepted the news with good humor, made decisions with typical military precision and kept on marching. A week later, she hoisted a silver sword and marched at the front of the Honor Guard as it escorted new President Barack Obama to begin the Inaugural Parade in Washington, D.C.

“I want to be the kind of woman [who] continues to live life to the fullest,” she says. “I don’t think I will change and not be the way I’ve always been.”

Bagby gave up figure skating after college and joined the Coast Guard, impressed with its close-knit community and commitment to saving lives. Stationed in Alexandria, Va., since June of 2007, she is a lieutenant (junior grade) and the Honor Guard’s training officer. She is also the base education officer, responsible for helping enlisted people and officers find opportunities and funding for higher education.

Formed by President Kennedy in 1962, the Honor Guard marches in parades and performs at ceremonies and funerals for active-duty Coast Guard members at Arlington National Cemetery and around the country. Like all military branches, the Coast Guard sent its honor guard to march in President Obama’s inaugural parade. Bagby and her team spent more than a year preparing for the parade — long before they even knew who would be the guest of honor.

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Walk tall—Bagby's unit prepared for this event for a year. (DoD photo by Chief Petty Officer Gordon Boozer, U.S. Coast Guard/Released)

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It was during the last few months of parade preparations that Bagby’s life did an about-face. In October, she grew concerned about something she found in her breast during a self-exam. Two months of testing finally led to the discovery in January that she has ductal carcinoma in situ, an early form of breast cancer that, if left untreated, can become invasive. She elected to fight it aggressively and scheduled a double mastectomy for mid-March. The cancer is in such early stages that it didn’t even show up on a routine mammogram, but Bagby says she’d rather have the surgery than worry about it returning for the rest of her life.

“It wasn’t really a hard choice,” she says. “I had to really think about how I would feel if this came back and I hadn’t done everything I could. It’s so scary to be 26 and facing this. I eat healthy, I exercise, I’ve never smoked, never done a drug and I don’t drink to any extent. I have lived a very, very healthy lifestyle, but this still happened to me.”

Six days after her diagnosis, Bagby marched at the head of her unit in the inaugural parade. Despite the bone-chilling cold — Bagby said she couldn’t feel her right hand by the end of the parade — she said it was “an amazing feeling” to participate in the event.

“I had to maintain focus,” she said. “When you’re up there, everything you do is representing the Coast Guard. You can’t look at the crowd because you know someone is going to get a photo. It feels like a really big burden on your shoulders. But at the same time, I try to look at it as just another performance. I grew up figure-skating, and this is all just part of the show.”

The parade over, Bagby has settled down to face surgery and months of recovery. Her prognosis good, she took a solo trip to Mexico to relax and created a blog to help share her story with other young women.

“If I can raise their awareness, just a little bit, then getting this cancer was not in vain,” she says on her blog. “I am strong enough to go through this and live my life, but I want to prevent someone else from having to [go through the same thing].”

Her message to other women her age? Don’t skip your monthly self-examination. And if you find anything, call your doctor — even if you’re not sure.

“Many younger women who get breast cancer find a lump, but they wait to go to the doctor,” she says. “But I want to make them understand — no one is too young.”

—Jill Carnell Danseco