Mary Steckler got up from her chair and carefully moved a plant that was blocking her view of the television in a lounge at Good Samaritan Home.
She wasn't about to miss this moment in history.
"I hate it that my parents and brothers are gone and not able to witness what I'm able to," said Steckler, 88, one of the home's residents who was glued to the television as Barack Obama became the nation's 44th president and the first black to be sworn in as Commander in Chief.
As Chief Justice John G. Roberts finished administering the oath of office and declared, "Congratulations, Mr. President," Steckler turned to the woman next to her and said, "Beautiful."
She nodded in affirmation as Obama delivered his inaugural speech. She clapped when he said that this was a moment to recall "that all are equal, all are free and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."
Moments later, as the speech came to a close, Steckler beamed.
"Makes you want to cry," she said. "It's just wonderful. I hope people realize what a wonderful country this is and that no matter who the person is, that they have an opportunity to serve the country and do what they think is right."
Steckler said her parents raised her as a Christian, and she was taught that all individuals are created equal.
"There should be no difference," she said, then lamented that some people did not want to see Obama become president because of his race. "It's still shocking to think some Christians have such a non-Christian attitude."
But Steckler rejoiced at how far the country has come.
"I'm so proud to be an American," she said.
Oletha Briggs, 100, watched the inauguration and the events surrounding it from the solitude of her room at Good Samaritan Home. Obama marks the 19th president to serve the country since her birth.
Briggs never thought she'd live to see the swearing-in of a black president.
"I've been sitting all through the whole thing," she said. "I wanted to hear it.
"God made us all alike. We have to realize we're just part of His being. God had a purpose to make the dark and the light. We should know their heart and mind is like ours."
Briggs was married in 1929 and lived through the Great Depression. She was already in her 50s when the civil rights movement began, and when Martin Luther King Jr. gave his landmark "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington in 1963.
She listened intently to Obama's speech on Tuesday, not just because of its significance in terms of race but because of his message to the American people and the world.
"I thought it was wonderful," she said. "He can show people he is willing to help the world. Maybe we might see a different world ... but he can't do it by himself."
Briggs urges people, even those who don't agree with Obama's policies, to embrace the new president.
"If somebody is in, whoever it is, we should not talk against him," she said.
Many of the home's residents commented about the huge crowds, estimated at more than 1 million, at the National Mall to witness Obama's inauguration.
None could recall a president that elicited such excitement.
"A lot of people are interested," Briggs said.
Steckler remembers excitement surrounding President John F. Kennedy's inauguration, "but not like this."
