CUMBERLAND, Md. — Thomas Sheahen carried a sign that read “A person’s a person no matter how small” as he boarded a bus outside of a western Maryland church that was headed to Washington, D.C. for the March for Life on Friday.

Sheahen is a Garrett County, Maryland, resident and the director of the Institute for Theological Encounter with Science & Technology based in St. Louis. He runs the organization via internet from his home.

“We’re basically a bunch of scientists who reject the notion that science opposes religion,” he said.

Sheahen, who holds a doctorate degree in physics, has participated in the annual march nearly every year since it began in the 1970s.

This year, he was particularly eager to see one of the featured speakers at the event.

“I really want to hear Mike Pence’s talk, he said. “Pence is a definite hero to the whole Right to Life movement.”

Roughly 50 other folks, including many children and church youth group members, were quiet as the bus left the mountain city before sunrise.

While the bus frequently braked in stop-and-go traffic outside of Baltimore, Tyler Jackson, 15, of Ridgeley, West Virginia and Hunter Downey, 16, of LaVale, Maryland — both members of Our Lady of the Mountains Parish in Cumberland — said they were at the March last year.

It’s important to participate in the event to “get people thinking,” Hunter said.

Meanwhile, Judy Stegmaier, one of the few senior citizens on the trip, stared through a window as the sun broke the horizon and talked of going to the march for the first time for “a new experience.”

Stegmaier, who sells vegetables she raises on her 5-acre farm in Cumberland, talked of a loved one that adopted children and said events including the March for Life serve as reminders that unplanned pregnancies can result in the enhancement of a happy family.

Stegmaier also said she’s pleased with the change of power in Washington and hopes President Trump will run the country as a business.

“I’m all for it,” she said of the new administration. “We’ve had politicians forever. Let’s give (new leaders) a shot.”

She was on the trip with her longtime friend Ina Lagratta, also of Cumberland.

“I want to stand up for what we believe in,” Lagratta said. “We believe in the rights of children to be born and to be able to live.”

McMinn writes for the Cumberland, Maryland Times-News.