Three Aspen residents became U.S. citizens this week after taking the Oath of Allegiance at the federal courthouse in Grand Junction. Aspen Public Radio’s Barbara Platts has the story.
Right after Lina Maldaikyte took her oath and became a naturalized citizen yesterday, she went down the hallway at the federal courthouse and did her civic duty.
“The first thing I did was what every American should do: I registered to vote. Pretty much everyone did the same thing,” Maldaikyte said of her and the 19 other people naturalized during the same ceremony.
Maldaikyte is from Lithuania. She joined two fellow Aspenites, one from Canada and the other from U.K., in becoming Americans.
Maldaikyte moved here in 2000 after landing on the “Aspen” page in a travel book.
“I thought I should see [Aspen] to see if it was like everyone said. I came here, saw it and never left,” she said.
She started the process to citizenship seven years ago, once she knew this was the place she wanted to stay. The journey was difficult at times, but Maldaikyte was very excited to reach her goal. She said the ceremony yesterday was very emotional for her.
“I was supposed to say something but I could not even open my mouth,” the new U.S. citizen said. “It was too intense for me emotionally.”
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services holds ceremonies like this to induct new citizens once a month in Grand Junction. In the last six months 14 Aspen residents were naturalized. Barbara Platts, Aspen Public Radio News.
