A New Pledge of Allegiance
By DAVID PERRY, Sun Staff
Lowell Sun
LOWELL -- Prim and bespectacled, hands folded on her tan skirt, Maria Lobao looked down from her seat on the right of the stage.
As the Lowell High ROTC presented the colors and ringed Lowell Memorial Auditorium holding flags of many nations. As City Councilor Edward "Bud" Caulfield sang the national anthem with bravura, and as Mayor Bill Martin recalled the city's rich history, inevitably intertwined with immigrants.
As Deborah Scalfani, the immigration clerk, administered the two-minute oath of citizenship and the people before her smiled and waved flags when it was done.
As U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan quoted JFK and James Joyce, reflecting on his own grandparents' immigration from Ireland, reminding the crowd of the economic boost new immigrants bring.
Karlotha Botreau of Boston by way of Haiti and Johanlet Madrano of Haverhill by way of the Dominican Republic, both U.S. Army veterans who served in Iraq first and got their citizenship yesterday, looked on from the front row as Lobao was introduced.
Introduced by U.S. District Court Judge George O'Toole Jr., Lobao stepped to the podium, an American flag the backdrop behind her.
The fear drained from her. The dread of public speaking, that her accent would thicken as her nerves frayed. Gone. The large crowd before her, included 869 new citizens and their families.
She was suddenly proud of them.
For the second time in less than a month, hundreds of people left Lowell Memorial Auditorium as freshly-minted U.S. citizens yesterday. In a 45-minute ceremony, the 869 people shed allegiance to their homelands and began life as U.S. citizens, no less empowered and responsible than anyone born on these shores or naturalized before them.
O'Toole, welcomed them by continent and noted the "special vitality" that went into their citizenship -- choice. He advised them to "pick up the tools of your citizenship," to vote, to carry the torch passed down from the framers of the Constitution.
Introducing her, O'Toole called Lobao a "sterling example" of what can become of dedicated citizenship.
Since joining Lowell-based Enterprise Bank when it opened with the dawn of 1989, Lobao has ascended from head teller to vice president/branch relationship manager of the main branch in Lowell.
She came here with her family, two siblings, a suitcase of possessions and her native tongue 31 years ago, when she was 15. They came from Graciosa, one of the smaller of the nine islands that make up Portugal's Azores.
The family yearned for the economic promise the United States offered. Her uncle and godfather was their sponsor. He lived in Peabody. So they settled there.
"Being a teenager and not knowing a word of English was very hard," says Lobao. "But then, I knew there was no turning back. I was here to stay."
She was put in class with other non-English-speaking students at Peabody High School.
The teacher spoke only English. "It was hard," she said, "but it made students learn."
Lobao carried English and Portuguese dictionaries. She watched TV, flipping from book to book to translate.
Language was a jigsaw puzzle she gradually put together.
Lobao graduated high school in 1980, then earned a two-year business management degree from North Shore Community College in 1982, while working part-time in the automotive department at K-Mart.
She met her husband of nearly 25 years, Helio, who also hailed from Graciosa. They have two daughters and two granddaughters.
They settled in Lowell and eventually moved to Tyngsboro.
In 1984, she began her banking career as teller for First Bank and worked her way up to head teller at a Billerica branch.
She moved to Enterprise Bank on Dec. 26, 1988, a week before it opened.
Lobao became a citizen in 1990, among 10 people at government center in Boston. One of the others was her husband. They took the day off to celebrate. "It was a day to be proud."
Last week, she was asked to speak at yesterday's ceremony.
When she heard more than a thousand people would be there, "I nearly fell to the floor.
"And when I walked in that room, I thought, oh, my God. What have I gotten myself into?"
Once onstage, she looked into the crowd.
She realized, "I was once where they are today. And I was proud of them. And I found my comfort level."
And she told them this is the greatest country in the world.
She told them, "opportunities are available if you work hard."
She told them to vote and to learn English.
"Don't depend on anyone else to become your translator. Be your own translator."
Lobao told them to be "good citizens, and "to be as proud of our country as our country is of all of you."
In the crowd, looking up, was Graziela Blake, 32.
Eight years in this country from Brazil, Blake is a teller at the Billerica branch of Enterprise Bank.
"When I saw her, I wanted to say yeah!" said Blake. "I want to be like her. I don't know her well, but she spoke Portuguese, too, and there she was. She is what she wanted to become."
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