Australian overcomes obstacles, becomes U.S. citizen

MONTROSE — Christine Peak, 55, moved to Montrose from Australia in 1972; she became a U.S. citizen last Wednesday.

“I speak English, I’m college educated, I have access to a vehicle, I have access to Internet and a telephone,” she said. “And I found doing my naturalization almost impossible and absolutely daunting.”

She met her husband, Jim, 81, when visiting Montrose as an exchange student in 1970. They were married once she returned and have since had two children together. The children, now 33 and 30, have dual citizenship.

“And essentially I have dual citizenship too now, accepting that this is the oath that you take which puts aside — renounces and puts aside all other loyalties to any other country. This is now my country,” Christine said.

She said it would have been easier to have been naturalized when she first was married, but at the time she was uncertain whether she would return to her homeland.

“(It was for) my parents mostly, so it wasn’t until we went there in 1999 and we moved back that I realized this is where I need to be,” she said. “This is beautiful here.”

Christine and Jim lived five years in Australia before returning in 2004 after her father’s death. The country’s socialized health care system was one of the reasons they returned to Montrose.

“I know when my dad had skin cancer, he was told to go home and put Efudex on it for the next six weeks and he was dead in three months,” Christine said. “And he knew, he said, you know, he needed some more help and — he knew.”

Jim is a retired physician of 45 years.

“When you do get care, you get good care,” he said.

He said he had a heart attack during their stay in Australia, and was sent home from the hospital with chest pains.

He eventually saw a cardiologist who gave him the treatment he needed in an afternoon.

Christine said that with a family history of breast cancer, she asked for a yearly mammogram but was denied, even after offering to pay out of her own pocket.

 She was diagnosed with breast cancer shortly after returning to the United States.

“If I was in Australia I would already be dead,” she said.

But the United States’ system has flaws of its own, she said.

“My view, we need to make some changes here too. The cost of medicine and pharmaceuticals, what’s happened in this country is becoming outrageous. So there has to be something between socialized medicine and what’s happening now.”

Christine said the Australian culture is distinctly rough. There’s what’s known as “tall poppy syndrome,” where “if the flower grows, someone tries to cut it off because they don’t want anyone else getting ahead.”  

“Australia is a tough country. They work hard and they play hard and drink hard, and they think hard, you know, they just — and here it seems to be more gentle.

They’re not encouraging over there. They’re kind of in it for themselves to try and succeed for themselves.”

Despite such issues, the couple say they enjoyed the time they spent there on a sheep farm in New South Wales. They had 1,500 sheep on 2,000 acres.

“We did make friends; we were successful there. We had some of the best fine wool in the district, merino wool,” Christine said.

Three years after returning to the United States, Christine was again eligible for citizenship. She got together her birth certificate, background checks and green card. She printed off her $95 application and paid a $400 fee.

But the process proved more difficult than expected.

Her 10-page application was returned three times, once because she signed where she should have printed and another time because her signature had to be notarized.

Jim said when he tried to call the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Grand Junction, he was greeted by an automated recording in Nebraska.

“I mean, stop all the monkey business of not being able to communicate with people,” he said, adding the process is far too bureaucratic and ought to be straightforward.

Christine said that when her notice came for the $75 fingerprinting, she and her husband were headed for a wedding in California.

They had to cancel their plans because the notice stated her application would be “abandoned” if she weren’t in for the fingerprinting on a specific date.

She tried to reschedule but said reaching a human who could help was so difficult it would have had to be done in writing.

“They don’t work with you any way at all,” she said. “They’re difficult. There’s no compassion whatsoever.”

Following the application, she was required to pass a verbal exam.

She had to know such facts as names of the U.S. Attorney General and the history of the Pledge of Allegiance as well as functions of the federal, state and local governments.

“These to me were fun to learn,” she said.

She said that if she hadn’t passed the test, she would have had to return to the back of the line and restart the application process.

Then came the naturalization ceremony in Grand Junction.

“Many people here also wanted to come with me and witness and be a part of it — and nowhere on the paper I got did it ever say that I could invite anybody,” Christine said.

She attended the ceremony with her husband. She said finally taking the oath of citizenship was inspiring.

“The whole ceremony was very wonderful, very touching,” she said.

Christine said she completed the challenging process in rather favorable circumstances.

“So I do question: How can someone who’s working in the strawberry fields who doesn’t speak English very well, doesn’t have access to a vehicle, doesn’t have Internet — how in the heck are they gonna get in?”

She plans to register to vote today.

Contact Robert Allen via e-mail at roberta@montrosepress.com