Former New Bedford School Principals Await Inauguration
Photo by Caroline Bridges
RIVET
The New Bedford Standard-Times
Cristian Hernandez
Boston University Washington New Service
01/16/09
WASHINGTON – Roberta Rivet spent 15 years serving as the E.C. Brooks Elementary School principal. Her husband, Leonard Rivet was principal of Roosevelt Middle School. They spent their careers telling students of all backgrounds that they could be and do anything they wanted when they grew up and now they see that dream becoming a reality with the presidential inauguration of Barack Obama.
After retiring the Rivets moved from New Bedford to the Washington area in 2001. Mr. Rivet, who retired in 2005 from the Navy Reserve after 38 years, now works for the Defense Intelligence Agency.
“Every now and then we look at each other and think who would have thought we would end up here,” said Mrs. Rivet. They still own a home in Dartmouth and are registered Massachusetts voters. Mrs. Rivet flies back every month to visit her mother and the couple returns to the area for summer vacations.
The couple shies away from politics and said that the inauguration of Barack Obama transcends politics. They said they have never been loyal to any political party nor do they always agree. In November Mr. Rivet said he voted for Barack Obama and Mrs. Rivet said she voted for John McCain.
Nonetheless, Mrs. Rivet is looking forward to the new administration, “We wish him the very best,” she said. “He’s there for all of us – those who voted for him and those who didn’t.”
She considers the events on Tuesday historical and emotional. “When you work with kids you don’t see black and white. They are just kids,” said Mrs. Rivet.
Choking back tears, she recalled her experiences as a college student during the civil rights movement. A moment in history she said she will never forget was when civil rights leader Medgar Evers was shot in the back of the head in the driveway of his home in Mississippi in 1963.
“I often think to myself, look how far we’ve come,” said Mrs. Rivet.
In his work, Mr. Rivet said he trains hundreds of civilian employees who are coming to work for the Department of Defense.
He said that the new federal workforce he is training is young and understands the politics of Barack Obama.
“Things have really changed. There’s a difference in the way people relate to each other in the federal government,” Mr. Rivet said. “Politics have nothing to do with the way things have changed but the fact that the country has chosen an African American president has changed things already. People are more willing to work with other groups.”
Even though the Rivets are excited about Obama’s inauguration, they plan to watch the ceremony on television in the comfort of their apartment in Arlington, Va., which has a view of the Capitol.
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