2 Virginians join first lady for speech

WASHINGTON -- As a Lynchburg firefighter, Abbey Meacham is always ready to answer the call.

But this one took Meacham by surprise. At 11:30 yesterday, she was asked to join first lady Michelle Obama in the U.S. Capitol for President Barack Obama's first address to a joint session of Congress.

She was joined by, among others, a 78-year-old Richmond woman, Mary Henley, who cleans office buildings.

"I was blindsided. I was teaching a [trauma] class. They told me to cancel the rest of my classes, pack my bag and get on an airplane," Meacham said of the call, barely nine hours before Obama's speech.

By 7 p.m. she was walking through the gates to the White House to meet the first lady. A U.S. Secret Service motorcade later drove her to the Capitol before Obama's address.

"This is incredible. It's the most incredible experience and a huge honor to represent my union," said Meacham, who is a member of the International Association of Fire Fighters.

"It's amazing. It's a once in a lifetime experience," she said, adding people on her flight to Washington were "probably tired of hearing me talk about it."

Meacham, of Forest, Va., has been a firefighter and paramedic with the Lynchburg Fire Department since 2004, working out of Station No. 6.

Inviting a firefighter to sit in the First Lady's box in the House gallery is "further proof of the respect the president has for professional fire fighters and emergency medical professionals," said union president Harold Schaitberger.

Meacham said she hoped the Obama administration would continue to support fire safety and training and change current laws to provide aid to families of firefighters who were disabled or killed in the line of duty before 2000.

Families of public safety personnel injured or killed after 2000 receive benefits from the federal government, but those injured before 2000 do not receive a government benefit.

"We are fighting avidly to get that passed," Meacham said.

Mary Henley of Richmond is receiving Social Security benefits while continuing to work part time cleaning office buildings to help pay her basic living expenses. She had been married for 46 years when her husband died in April. He worked with Henley part time.