Mary Ann Christie, the former mayor of Madeira and an alternate delegate, found tears rolling down her face as she listened to former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice speak to the Republican National Convention at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.
"I was touched by her telling her personal story, the story of her life,'' said Christie.
"Here was a woman talking about growing up as an African-American in Alabama in the 1950s and 1960s, deep in the segregated South,'' Christie said. "She talked about how, when she was a little girl, her mother couldn't even take her to a movie theater or buy her an ice cream cone because of segretation."
"It was a beautiful example of how far we have come,'' Christie said. "And she said that America is such a great place that someone from her background could become the secretary of state. She was right. It is a great country."
"It brought me to tears."
