America witnessed the inauguration of President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Vice President Kamilah Harris last week. At this time, we look back on some local residents’ brushes with inaugural history.

A bit of luck

A bit of luck had Mathews native Scott Sadler of Alexandria rubbing elbows with four presidents during the 2004 inauguration of President George W. Bush.

Sadler was at that time working as the deputy press secretary for then- Republican Senator John Warner, and he volunteered to be an escort for the ceremony. He was assigned to escort opera singer Denyce Graves, who was performing, and her family from the west lawn of the Capitol building to the holding room where they would wait until they were called to be seated outside. It was then his job to escort them to the door where they would exit onto the platform.

But, fortunately for Sadler, it was a cold day, and when Graves’s mother decided to remain in the holding room with the opera singer’s infant child, Graves of...