Most of us take our American citizenship for granted. Others, not so much!
As we waved our flags at our community’s 4th of July parade last Thursday, we heard this interesting saga. 
For Mathews resident Elena Siddall, it was a long and circuitous venture starting in 1945 when she was just a 3½-year-old toddler spirited away from her home in Latvia to escape invading Russian troops. After spending nearly five years in various camps for Displaced Persons around Europe, her family was brought to America to a sponsoring family in Virginia’s beautiful Shenandoah Valley. Her parents quickly became U.S. citizens once they qualified, but the rest of the family was erroneously told they needed to get their own citizenships.
During high school Elena went through a citizenship proceeding, but due to some “snafu,” she did not get her papers. Again, as a freshman at Mary Washington College, Elena went to Washington, D.C., to be naturalized but, only days after having been feted for her new citizen...