Two people from Michigan will be the guests of First Lady Michelle Obama at tonight's State of the Union address.
Holland resident Bryan Ritterby and Detroiter Alicia Boler-Davis.
Alicia Boler-Davis
Boler-Davis is the plant manager at GM's Orion Assembly and Pontiac Stamping. She oversees the production of the newly released Chevy Sonic - "the first new small car program from GM to be manufactured in the U.S.," according to the White House.
When President Obama and President Lee of South Korea visited GM's facility, Boler-Davis led them on the tour.
Boler-Davis was the first African American woman to be plant manager at a GM vehicle manufacturing plant, according to DiversityCareers.com.
Bryan Ritterby
Ritterby describes himself as an "Average Joe."
Someone who is not all that political, and who normally wouldn't watch a State of the Union address.
Tonight, he'll be watching with Boler-Davis from the balcony in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Garrett Ellison of the Grand Rapids Press writes about Ritterby's invitation from the White House:
Bryan Ritterby’s crazy week started on Saturday with a ring from Energetx Composities, where he works as a lab technician, telling him the White House might be calling.
Thus began a whirlwind adventure that culminates tonight when Ritterby, 58, of Holland, will be Michelle Obama’s guest in the First Lady’s box for the president’s annual State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress.
“For some crazy reason, they liked my story,” said Ritterby, who has spent all day fielding calls from reporters in his hotel room at the luxurious St. Regis Hotel in downtown Washington D.C., a block and a half from the White House.
“I’m so nervous, I’m leaning against the wall so my knees don’t knock.”