FRANKFORT, Ky. –
One Kentucky National Guard family was invited to represent the Kentucky National Guard at the White House for a special tour and honorary showing of personal artwork during the White House Easter Egg Roll, April 1.
This year's annual event, hosted by the First Lady and celebrating the theme of National Guard families, invited children in National Guard families to submit colored drawings of Easter eggs that would be recreated on actual eggs and displayed in the White House East Colonnade.
Sgt. 1st Class Vincent Willingham, a readiness NCO for the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1792nd Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, and his 12-year-old son, Eli, were the Kentucky winners based on their submission.
“We talked to Eli about what being in the Kentucky Guard meant and what some ideas and themes might help represent Kentucky and what his thoughts were," said Willingham. "But he put the design together. That was all him. Then the artists took his design and transferred it over to the actual egg that was on display in the White House.”
Being selected was a big deal for Eli who had never been to Washington. According to his dad, he was all smiles when he received the news.
“He was stoked,” said Willingham. “It's kind of funny. Whenever you see your kids smile, like really, really big; you know something has impressed him. He was absolutely blown away by the fact he was invited to the White House. We talk all the time about ‘hey, I've gotten to go on a tour of the White House, too.' But you know, I've never been directly invited to the White House.”
Eli’s design will be on display throughout the month and will be seen by thousands as they tour the building.
The first White House Easter Egg Roll was held in 1878. When sitting president, President Rutherford B. Hayes, issued an order that if any children should come to the White House to roll their Easter eggs, they would be allowed to do so. The tradition has been carried on since and has grown into the major event still celebrated on lawn of the most famous house in America, Monday after Easter.