By Carl Weiser
Enquirer Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - At 25, Matt Wingler of West Chester is too young to remember much of the Reagan years.

So to explain why the 1997 Lakota High School graduate waited for three hours in line Thursday to see President Reagan lying in state, Wingler quoted his father, Loren: "He helped us get our swagger back."

Wingler, now a graduate student in Washington, was among the Tristate residents and natives who joined thousands of others at the Capitol in paying their final respects. The week of mourning for Reagan ends today.

Lutheran minister Keith Menter, 37, who grew up in Anderson Township but now lives in Nebraska, gave a short answer when asked why he was in line.

"I don't know," he said. He was listening to the car radio when, "I just suddenly felt an urge."

He knew he had to come to Washington. He had his secretary book him a last-minute flight from Omaha to Washington.

Sweating in his jacket and black clerical garb and collar, the 1984 Anderson High School graduate said: "If I had to wait 24 hours and it was 100 degrees, I would be here."

State Rep. Gary Cates drove from West Chester with his son, Brenton, 11. Growing up in the 1960s and '70s, Cates said the country lurched from one crisis to the next: assassination, riots, Vietnam, Watergate, gas shortages, hostages, malaise.

"Reagan renewed our spirit," said Cates, wearing a red, white and blue shirt. "He was sent to be our president at the right time."

The two got two minutes in the Rotunda after a three-hour wait, but they didn't mind.

"It was breathtaking," said Cates, 48. "I'm glad I had a chance to see it. I'm glad I took my son."

From Xenia came Doug Lytle, a retired state trooper who can remember like yesterday Reagan's October 1984 whistle-stop tour through Ohio, for which Lytle helped provide security.

He remembers the moment Oct. 12 in Sidney when Reagan, from the back of his train, saluted Lytle and then waved at him.

"It meant a lot to me. Still does," said Lytle, who drove nearly 10 hours with his wife, Sue.

From even farther away came Denise Rowland, 37, a Norwood native now living in Huntsville, Ala. She turned 18 in 1984 and cast her very first vote for Reagan.

"I remember feeling like things were changing for the better," she said.

Will Clark, 36, grew up in Mason but now lives in suburban Washington. Reagan's life story - growing up with an alcoholic father in humble circumstances - inspired Clark.

"He was the first person to make me believe I could do whatever. It sounds corny," said Clark, an engineer at America Online.

Matt Wingler said without Reagan's willingness to stand up to the Soviet Union, "we could be under Communism today." Wingler likened Reagan's fight against the Soviet Union to President Bush's battle against terrorism and said both men were strong leaders.

Greg Taylor, 38, drove from Portsmouth by himself.

"He was my first commander in chief," said Taylor, a site engineer and Army veteran.

Behind Taylor in line were two Middletown natives, Ken and George Sowards, who interrupted a tour of Civil War battlefields to come to Washington.

"I think he's the greatest president I'll ever see in my lifetime," said Ken Sowards, 52, a teacher in Fort Loramie. "He made us believe in America again."

Darryl Bowen, 57, and Mike Ryan, 48, made the trek from Liberty Township for some closure. The two were interviewed Thursday on ABC's Good Morning America.

"Ever since he left office, my wife and I have felt like we lost our father, the man who was looking over us," said Bowen.

"I was trembling a little bit and had some tears when I approached the casket," he said. "To know he was in there, I felt like he was looking over us all again."

"I honestly believe (Reagan) affected the lives of every human being in some way," Ryan said.

Ryan, of Shorten and Ryan Funeral Home, has spent 25 years in the funeral business and said he has never seen a more spectacular memorial. "It made you humbly proud to be an American," he said.

Enquirer reporter Maggie Downs and GNS reporter Ledyard King contributed to this report.