101-year-old woman takes oath to become American
Eulalia Garcia-Maturey raised her right hand in oath Tuesday afternoon as she became a citizen of the United States, exactly 101 years after she crossed into the country as a baby in her mother’s arms.
The 101-year old woman – a diminutive 4-feet-5-inches tall – sat in the Brownsville federal courtroom dressed in a lime green coat, a matching flower-print skirt and black loafers. Her silver hair, pulled back in a half chignon, fell below her waist in a heap of neatly curled locks.
“Nunca es tarde si la dicha es buena,” District Judge Hilda G. Tagle told her during the special naturalization ceremony, quoting an old axiom that refers to happiness being worth the wait.
“I congratulate you on this matter, but I also congratulate your family,” the judge smiled. “Welcome to the U.S., a country you have been a part of all of your life.”
Court officers read the oath of allegiance to Garcia-Maturey in English and Spanish. Her niece, Yolanda Garcia Ovalle, stood by her side to help her understand the court proceedings.
“Thank you, may God bless you and give you many years of life for what you did for me today,” Garcia-Maturey said in Spanish when Tagle handed her a miniature U.S. flag and citizenship certificate.
Moments later, she waved the items above her head to a group of reporters.
“I now am an American citizen,” she exclaimed as loud as she could in her frail voice.
The wait to become a citizen was a long one for Garcia-Maturey, who was born in Monterrey on Feb. 12, 1909, and arrived in Brownsville on Oct. 12, 1909. She took a ferry from Matamoros into the city with her parents, in a time when there were no border guards or paper requirements.
She has remained in the United States ever since and outlived two husbands and two children.
Ovalle said her aunt’s husband, who died in 1982, didn’t want her to become a U.S. citizen, but she didn’t elaborate on why it took her nearly 30 more years to start the naturalization process, which she helped her aunt begin six months ago.
Garcia-Maturey was able to prove she had been living legally in United States through her Certificate of Lawful Entry, which she received in 1941 when Congress passed the World War II Alien Registration Act requiring noncitizens to register with the government.
Ovalle said her aunt had kept the document in mint condition. She was tired of living in the country in limbo, Garcia-Maturey said.
"She is very happy to be a citizen, and I am even happier," said Ovalle, who shed tears during Tuesday’s ceremony. “It has been a dream of hers for a very long time.”
Garcia-Maturey told reporters inside the courtroom that she was excited because she would like to vote.
“Ahora voy andar por todo el mundo,” she said in Spanish. Now I am going to go around the world.
