WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (UPI) — A 106-year-old woman got her wish to meet President Barack Obama in the White House after a two-year social media campaign.
Virginia McLaurin, a Washington D.C. resident since 1941, opened her arms wide and shouted a joyful “Hi!” as she greeted the president in a new video released by the White House on Sunday.
At the White House to celebrate Black History Month, she told the president “It’s an honor, it’s an honor.” She also got a hug from the First Lady and, unable to contain her excitement, a dance as well.
“I wanna be like you when I grow up,” Michelle Obama told her.
“You can,” McLaurin replied.
McLaurin, an African-American woman, was born in 1909 in South Carolina and has lived through 18 presidents.
In 2014, a Facebook page was created with a video of herself, and an online petition was started to get her to meet the president.
For the petition, she wrote: “I didn’t think I would live to see a colored president because I was born in the South and didn’t think it would happen.”
She wrote briefly about her experiences and what she’s seen in her long life and how much that life has changed.
“I remember when we didn’t have any electricity. I had a kerosene lamp. I remember the first car model Ford. I was living here when Martin Luther King was killed.”
She wrote to the president, “I could come to your house to make things easier. I pray to the Lord that I would be able to meet you one day.”
And finally, on Sunday, she danced with the First Family. At the president’s house.
