They’re going to Washington, D.C., for the Trump inauguration
Matt and Andrew Uram’s tickets to inaugural festivities
Timothy Hill
Julianne Griffith of Peters Township, a senior at Point Park University, will be attending the inauguration with other students journalists.
Timothy Hill remembers playing the saxophone at Margaret Bell Miller Middle School in Waynesburg, where he grew up. Now, he lives in Washington, D.C., and he’ll be playing the saxophone with the U.S. Navy Band during the parade Friday to mark the inauguration of the 45th president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.
“I’m completely excited just to be representing the band,” Hill said. “It’s very historical – that’s really the main part of it.”
After years playing in the high school marching band, concert band and jazz ensemble, Hill graduated from Waynesburg Central High School in 2004.
He graduated from West Virginia University four years later with a degree in music education.
In 2012, Hill spent six months in a national audition for his current position with the Navy band – staff arranger and composer. He is an active-duty member of the Navy, but his position with the band is considered a “permanent station.”
“This is the second inauguration I’ve performed in,” Hill said.
Just after he got his position in 2012, Hill played during President Obama’s second inauguration in January 2013.
He said during Friday’s parade on Pennsylvania Avenue, he and the other 100 members of his band will perform “Anchors Aweigh” and “Columbia, Gem of the Ocean.”
Matt Uram, 52, of Washington, has seen his share of presidential inaugurations, traveling to Washington, D.C., for the first oath-takings of two-term Republicans Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, plus the swearing-in of 41st president George H.W. Bush, father of the 43rd president.
“The most important thing to me in regards to the inaugural is just being part of this historical moment,” Uram said. “Being there at that moment of change is huge.” Political currents run deep in his family. Uram’s late mother, Julie, was a Washington County Republican Party chairman and co-chairman, and she was also active in the Republican State Committee. His brother, Tom, and his father, Andrew, were delegates to the Republican National Committee convention in Cleveland in July, when Trump accepted the party’s nomination.
Matt Uram, 52, has in the past attended inaugural balls, and he mentioned that a Pittsburgh newspaper noted his changing from street clothes to a tuxedo in a Washington, D.C., Metro station. Although he does plan to take the subway, this year he’s skipping the formal gatherings. Uram and his son, Andrew, 14, plan to drive to Maryland, presenting their tickets for the noon ceremony at about 9:30 a.m., then head for home after watching the parade, scheduled for 3 to 6 p.m.
“I want to do it as more an exercise for the young man,” he continued. “It’s a new chapter in this country’s grand experiment. Change is interesting. There’s going to be good and bad in it.”
Uram also broached the possibility of protests staged on Inauguration Day.
“I welcome it as long as it’s peaceful,” he said.
Attending the inaugural for the first time will be a student photojournalist from Peters Township. Julianne Griffith, 22, a senior at Point Park University, sees the trip she’ll make with fellow staffers from the college publication, The Globe, as punctuation marking her documentation of the presidential campaign that began with Trump’s and Democrat Hillary Clinton’s appearances in Pittsburgh in advance of the Pennsylvania primary election. She also photographed Democrat Bernie Sanders last spring, and, later, first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, general election campaign surrogates for Clinton.
As a credentialed photographer, she experienced the hurry-up-and-wait grind and exhilaration of covering a hotly contested presidential campaign while making potentially valuable contact with media professionals.
“I really enjoyed shooting all of it,” she said. “I love politics. This was my first presidential election to be old enough to vote. It was a blast. I loved doing it.”
Griffith will be one of a dozen Point Park student journalists making the trip. “We’re trying to get any ties to Pittsburgh that we can find,” she said in a phone interview Wednesday. Her publication’s print deadline isn’t until Monday, but during the inauguration ceremony and parade, she’ll be posting on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter and emailing photos to those who are handling The Globe’s website.
She credits Peters Township High School “teachers who shaped what I wanted to do with my life” for placing her on a career path. “I knew I wanted to do something with art” during freshman year when she took a class known as “Media 1,” which was an introduction to art. “They put a camera in my hands, and I never looked back.”
The member of the Peters class of 2013 is a daughter of Roy and Cheri Griffith of McMurray.
Also attending his first presidential inaugural will be David Podurgiel of North Strabane Township, vessel operations manager for Murray American River Towing based in Monessen.
What motivated him to attend?
“For me, it was Trump’s support for the coal industry,” Podurgiel said. “Coal is my lifeblood. That’s what keeps me going.” Through his workplace political action committee, Podurgiel was involved in a fundraiser for Trump once he secured the Republican nomination and also worked to obtain online pledges to cast votes from like-minded citizens.
“When he finally won and pulled us through, I thought, ‘I worked hard for this. I want to go to the inaugural and enjoy the fruits of what I’ve worked toward, helping the campaign, and enjoy the inauguration.”
The Podurgiels are staying in Georgetown, and they have tickets for standing room, which he described as close to the Capitol steps. They’re hoping for an upgrade, but they do have bleacher seats for the parade in the vicinity of the National Archives Building at 700 Pennsylvania Ave.
“It’s going to be a bummer,” he said. “We’re going to have rain, but we’ll have ponchos.”
When the invitation to attend an inaugural ball arrived at his home, he thought it was junk mail until his wife, Laura, urged him to look at it. Still skeptical, he went online and questioned the legitimacy of the packet, but it was the real thing.
Although he opted out of attending a ball, he now wishes he’d sprung for the $50-per-person tickets from the Pennsylvania Inaugural Committee.
“We’re realizing as we’re reading about the balls, the history and the pageantry, it would be a great experience,” Podurgiel said.