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One man is especially sad that he will not be in the White House to welcome the first African-American president: Lynwood Westray .
Westray, now 87, worked there as a butler for 32 years. He is thrilled that a fellow African-American has made it and plans to watch the inauguration on TV with his wife Kay, 90. "I'm tickled to death," he said .
"I never thought I would see such a thing. I believe God had a hand in it."
Westray started his marathon White House career in 1962, during John F. Kennedy's second year in office and retired in June 1994, while Bill Clinton was president, serving eight presidents in all. He formed part of what has become a proud tradition at the White House, the Butler Corps, which has been historically filled with African-Americans.
Like all Americans, Westray vividly remembers the assassination, barely a year after he started, of JFK in November 1963. "I did get to see him two days before he died because he had a private party upstairs," Westray said.
"That was the last we saw of him because on Saturday he was gone. Everyone was shocked."
Westray remembers Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy's successor, who pushed through civil rights legislation, as a tough boss. "He would tell you to do it and you'd better do it," he said.
It was always hard to see presidents leave, particularly Richard Nixon, who was forced to resign under the cloud of Watergate.
"I was sad to see him leave as he did, but he had to go," said Westray, who has always been a Democrat, although he insisted that never affected his feelings about his bosses.
As much as he enjoyed serving some of the Russian and Chinese leaders who turned up during the Cold War, he also liked meeting people such as Whoopi Goldberg who was a guest at the White House several times during Clinton's tenure.
His most interesting encounter at the White House was with Prince Philip during his visit with the Queen in 1979, while Jimmy Carter was in office. After dinner, Westray and another butler noticed that the prince was in the Red Room looking at the paintings alone. Westray and the other butler were serving after-dinner liqueurs.
"Your majesty, would you like a cordial?" Westray asked him. "I'll take one if you'll let me serve you," Prince Philip responded.
"Oh my God, this had never happened before," said Westray. "There we were standing there. I was holding the glasses and my buddy was holding the liqueurs and we looked at each other, and I said, 'If that's the only way you'll have it, we'll go along with it.' And the prince served us what he was having, and the three of us had a drink and a conversation. It was an honour to let him do it."
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