European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 22, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A photo Gladys Weaver takes citizenship oath after 2year struggle with the bureaucracy of her by Jules Loh associated press the ordeal is at for Gladys Rose from Madeira it ended 14 when she raised her hand and swore allegiance to the country that had never questioned her loyalty for 71 her the United states of had accepted her taxes without her vote without ques cast dutifully in every election since that of presi Dent she had sent her sons off to fight its without and in its soil had Laid to rest her husband and her for the past two its in the phrase of one of its put that lady through hell to prove the obvious that she was worthy to be deemed an i have six 21 20 great she fort seven american today i am the i thought i was the before she left the Federal building in before she phoned her children with the she mailed off a Check to the statue of Liberty restoration i hear Shes in she Gladys Weaver was born she came to America from her native England in when she was two years ago she decided to visit the land of her when she applied for a passport she was told by she was not an american these things said Perry District director of the immigration in All the people who put that lady through hell were doing their it was nobody they were following the the Law is the it allows for no discretion even when common sense demands the logic is bizarre in a Case like Gladys especially when were granting amnesty to illegal aliens right and Gladys Weaver made her trip to she got a British a Man at the immigration office in Tampa told her it would be simpler that she visited the Village where she was visited saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham had a delightful except she was she should the country which she regarded Only with deep sentiment be More accommodating than the one she knew As her Homeland if that seemed the and in the remarkable Saga of Gladys weavers journey to citizenship were Only she endured endless stood in endless filled out endless she was fingerprinted Only through stamina and determine hers and was she Able to Complete the journey in the Federal courthouse in like Many immigrants at the turn of the Richard weavers chose to sail alone to the land of get established in his Trade As a and Send for his wife and my Mother and i went to see him Weaver my Mother i have a bad feeling about that dont get but Richard Rouse did get he boarded the and White Star the ships provided a pen Sion to widows of the along with free passage to America in second so they would not have to endure the screening process of Ellis a they needed was a which they receive a paper granting permanent which awaited and in five years become on the Way to the Young Gladys be came her Mother took her to a who advised they left nine Days the Only space Avail Able was in third Ellis after Gladys and her Mother made their Way eventually to where Gladys went to school and her Mother worked As a when Gladys was the White Star lines pension ran Gladys dropped out of school to help make ends i worked for a week at a scissors i worked As an usher at a i did what 1 she in Gladys and Clarence a Farmer in were the Date was i became a but also a i kept a fed pitched worked in the Ive been kicked by a milk cow and dragged by a team of runaway during the depression i made our own we worked hard and raised a Fine family and wound up owning two farms before we retired and moved to that was in for the past three since her husbands Gladys Weaver has lived but comfortable in Madeira near that until she applied for a not a citizen the More she thought about the angrier she not a citizen it just didst make surely this would be remedied the gov after is the immigration offi cer in Tampa said of and told her the simplest solution would be for her in to sponsor citizenship would so Weaver went to she paid to get the papers to get them the bus trip Cost it was Only the before her simple quest was her expenses would be about she went Home and in the came what is known As a Green Green cards May be among the most counterfeited documents in the Gladys weavers was All too it certified that i was a resident alien and could be naturalized in three that shocked not Only was i not a i was a certified and when youre three years May be too she wrote to her she made five trips to the Tampa immigration she was told she needed Legal death certificates of her school census something to Grant her derivative she collected none was the Law is she wrote to the the White House sent her and her to the consular affairs offi who noted that alien women who married american citizens before became citizens automat your marriage was eight Days too the Laws the last at she saw Perry the immigration director from on a television she wrote to she picked the right Rivkind took an uncommon interest in the Case of Gladys a personal Rivkind because the same thing happened to my it nearly destroyed when i heard about Gladys i got sore All Over when he was told he want an Rivkind it devastated i knew How Weaver we had to do something about i was just fortunate to fave Virgil solos in my Hes one of the Virgil solos is a quintessential government Ca reer he knows How the machinery he knows the immigration he knows How to find at same Point in his career he acquired a it is bound in faded red cloth and held together with some pages Are missing but it might have been a project of spa writers during the he knows of no other title ship 1829 to Weaver said she and her Mother arrived june he that the sort of Date youre sure like your but there was no record they had entered that and no ship arrived that i did find a the that arrived june i figured weavers Mother told her the 15th because that when they stepped ashore from Ellis if we were in solos knew that the government maintains a sort of in to store Ellis Island re cords going Back to he knew the people there were Good at finding Given the right if we could prove that Weaver and her Mother came through Ellis he they would have permanent residency As of that Date and qualify for citizenship in five years that five years from if we could find that Weaver could qualify and there it Charity Emma and age sex name from Manifest june one technicality Weaver was told to appear at the immigration office in at on to answer some just she wore a Pink White a jewelled Ameri can Flag this would be the she she sat on a wooden Bench and at 40 minutes after noon was summoned to an examiners he explained to her that this might seem in View of her but he had to do his the you she raised her hand and swore to Tell the she swore that she had lived in the United states for 72 Ivy that she had never been not had paid her income was not a habitual had never trafficked in How tall Are you color hair never color eyes i my husband always said have you Ever claimed to be a citizen of the United states i but i never thought it a can you read and write the English language i have written to my to the presi to this office Many times in but we must do would you write something in this what my Little dog is How Many stripes in the american Weaver for the i have to ask you these please Bear with do you know when our country Cele Brates its Independence the fourth of do you know from which country we declared our Independence its a it will soon be just one Are you willing to take an oath of Alle Giance to the United states of America and so on 14 in the year of our lord 1985 and of the Republic Gladys Weaver stood along with 49 other petitioners in an Oak angled courtroom in Tampa and raised her once and pledged As she had routinely since she was a girl of the ceremony was when it a soloist appeared to sing America the Gladys Weaver Sang along with Page 14 the stars and stripes March the stars and stripes Page 15