107-year-old woman who danced with Obamas finally gets her ID
WASHINGTON, D.C. --It was a dance with President and Mrs. Obama that made 107-year-old Virginia McLaurin famous. "I thought I would never live to get in the White House," she told the First Couple.
The video went viral. A crowdfunding site raised almost $30,000 to help McLaurin move in to a new apartment.
Interview requests poured in -- from New York, Los Angeles, and even Europe. But McLaurin couldn't travel. She's had no government-issued ID since her purse was snatched years ago.
"I didn't ever get the ID or my pocketbook [back]."
When the South Carolina-born centenarian tried to get one in D.C., "I had to have a birth certificate."
But to get her birth certificate in South Carolina, she had to have... a photo ID. "That's what they said," she chuckled.
It wasn't until her predicament surfaced in the Washington Post that the D.C. government scrambled to pass an exception to the rule, and the mayor showed up in person to deliver the paperwork.
"So it's all official," Mayor Bowser told her. "It has your picture on it, and this bar code, allows anybody to scan it, and then we'll have the actual card for you."
McLaurin's concern isn't really travel. She wanted to be sure she had the right to vote, even though D.C. doesn't require voter ID. She does want her son to drive her to Myrtle Beach this summer.
She doesn't plan to fly anywhere anytime soon -- she said she's too afraid. But she will fly when "the Lord gives me wings, and then I'll fly away to be at home's rest."
She won't need an ID for that. "No," she laughed, "I won't need it. I'll be free at last."