Hadiya Pendleton’s Parents Will Join Michelle Obama At The State Of The Union

By Jorge Rivas Feb 12, 2013

The parents of Chicago teen Hadiya Pendelton will attend President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday as guests of first lady Michelle Obama, according to local news reports. 

"It’s bittersweet," Cleopatra Cowley told NBC News after she and her husband landed in Washington on Monday evening. "Because it’s as a result of losing my daughter, but it’s also exciting to have an opportunity like this."

The White House hasn’t released the official list yet but several of her guest have confirmed with multiple news sources that they’ll be sitting in the House chamber as guests of the first lady listening to Obama’s State of the Union address.

The Daily Caller combed through national and local news reports to pull together a list of the known guests reportedly invited by the White House this year:

  • The parents of murdered Chicago teen, Hadiya Pendleton, who was killed with a handgun days after attending Obama’s inauguration
  • Desiline Victor, a 102-year-old Haitian-American woman who waited in a long line to vote in Florida
  • Louisville machinist Bradley Henning
  • Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber
  • Newly-minted Medal of Honor recipient and former Staff Sergeant Clint Romesha
  • Wisconsin police officer Lt. Brian Murphy, who was wounded by gunshots in the Sikh temple shooting last August
  • Lee Maxwell, a 22-year-old wind energy technician from Wilton, Iowa
  • Bobak "Mohawk Guy" Ferdowsi, an Iranian-American flight director from NASA representing high-skill immigrants
  • Las Vegas student [and undocumented] immigrant Alan Aleman, who has benefited from Obama’s "deferred action" program
  • New Glarus Brewing Company founder and regular Obama small business example Deb Carey
  • Dr. Peter Hudson, co-founder and CEO of iTriage, an iPhone app that helps locate doctors
  • Susan Bumgarner, a pre-kindergarten teacher in Oklahoma City
  • Two lesbian couples "fighting for immigration equality and extended rights for same-sex military couples"
  • Menchu DeLuna Sanchez, Filipino immigrant and nurse credited with heroism during Superstorm Sandy