'She was living her best life,' woman remembers her mom missing in Miami collapse

Record ID: 1624529

  • Title: 'She was living her best life,' woman remembers her mom missing in Miami collapse
  • Date: 1st July 2021
  • Summary: SURFSIDE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (JUNE 30, 2021) (REUTERS) RAIN ON PINK ROSE IN FOREGROUND WITH COLLAPSED BUILDING IN REAR SUNNY ISLES BEACH FLORIDA, UNITED STATES (JULY 1, 2021) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAGGIE RAMSEY, DAUGHTER OF 80-YEAR-OLD CHAMPLAIN TOWER SOUTH RESIDENT MAGALY DELGADO WHO IS MISSING IN COLLAPSE, SAYING: "My mom's name is Magaly Delgado. Eighty-year-old Cuban woman, strong as can be."
  • Embargoed: 15th July 2021 21:30
  • Keywords: Champlain Towers Magaly Delgado Maggie Ramsey Miami building collapse Surfside victim victims' families
  • Location: SUNNY ISLES BEACH AND SURFSIDE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION
  • City: SUNNY ISLES BEACH AND SURFSIDE, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES / UNIDENTIFIED LOCATION
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,United States
  • Reuters ID: LVA001EK0GJT3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:Strong. That's the word that comes to mind when Maggie Ramsey remembers her mother, who has been missing since the Surfside, Florida condominium building in which she lived collapsed.
    Originally from Cuba, 80-year-old Delgado emigrated to the United States soon after the Cuban Revolution and now, six decades later was enjoying life.
    "She lived in Champlain Towers. She came from Cuba in '61, worked all her life, was really living her best life right now. She loved being at the beach and she loved her two grandchildren, she loves her two grandchildren," she said, recalling how she would call her daughter to walk her through using Netflix.
    "(She) loved to travel, loved to go out. The latest was watching The Crown on Netflix, 'Marlita, how do I get into The Crown again? Tell me?'
    Ramsey, a marketing executive at Charter Schools USA, came to Miami from Jupiter, Florida after hearing of the collapse of the building.
    As the search-and-rescue operation was temporarily suspended due to concerns about the stability of the remaining structure, Ramsey expressed hope that they would be able to continue to search for her mom.
    "She lived in the east side and that's where the pool deck collapsed, so they haven't necessarily been able to get in there as well as they have been able to get into the other side," she said. "So I'm hoping to hear that they were able to get in that area and kind of start to assess some of that area as well because that's where she would be."
    An only child, Ramsey said Delgado adored her role as grandmother to Ramsey's two sons, Matthew and Christopher with whom she had plans to travel to Napa Valley, California later this year.
    Late on Thursday (July 1), the Ramsey family informed Reuters that Magaly Delgado's remains had been identified in the rubble of Champlain Towers South.
    (Production: Julio-Cesar Chavez, Arlene Eiras)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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