Rosemarie Sheffield, LPN, Terraces nurse at MapleCreek, felt it was time to become a U.S. citizen. "I applied for citizenship last December, and took the written test in April. I was interviewed on July 25th, and passed the test," she said.
"I was originally scheduled for a naturalization ceremony in September, but there were so many people becoming citizens that they filled up, so I was moved to October." She was sworn in during a federal court hearing on Oct. 19, 2011, at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Presiding over the ceremony was Judge Scott Dales, a federal bankruptcy judge (IN PHOTO WITH ROSEMARIE). Being sworn in were 85 people from 37 countries. As the moderator called out each country of origin, the former citizens of those nations stood up. "There were three of us from England," Rosemarie said. "We waved to each other. It was exciting that two others from England were also doing this."
She admits the hardest thing was disavowing her allegiance to the Queen. "The oath says that we break all ties with other governments," she said, "But now I can say I am an American!" And after living here for 22 years, it's a good feeling for her.
Two days after the ceremony, the Terraces staff surprised Rosemarie with a celebratory cake. "It was interesting to see how happy the people were to be there," Rosemarie recalled for the group. "One young man from Mexico walked across the stage and held his little American flag up high and shouted, 'USA, USA!' He was so happy to finally be an American."
She also told her friends about the last piece of music sung for them by a Marine staff sergeant that day, "America, the Beautiful." She chokes up whenever she remembers it. "The final words of the song are 'God bless America, my home sweet home.' And it's true. America is now officially and truly our home."
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