Today Barak Obama’s grandmother passed away. Madelyn Dunham was 86 years old. Obama was very close with his maternal grandmother. She helped raise him, and he lived with her and his grandfather from the fifth grade until he graduated from high school. I would imagine that for him this is very much akin to losing a parent. The timing is especially sad.
Obama and his half sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, released the following statement to Usmagazine.com:
“It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died peacefully after a battle with cancer. She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength, and humility. She was the person who encouraged and allowed us to take chances. She was proud of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and left this world with the knowledge that her impact on all of us was meaningful and enduring. Our debt to her is beyond measure.
“Our family wants to thank all of those who sent flowers, cards, well-wishes, and prayers during this difficult time. It brought our grandmother and us great comfort. Our grandmother was a private woman, and we will respect her wish for a small private ceremony to be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, we ask that you make a donation to any worthy organization in search of a cure for cancer.”
[From Us Weekly]
Us’s article is very thorough and gives a great background on Mrs. Dunham. Maya Soetoro-Ng gave an especially touching tribute to her to the magazine last Wednesday.
She taught Barack and I to be content with modest material goods but not mediocrity. She is fastidious and brave. She is the toughest woman I know.”
[From Us Weekly]
Obama has said how much his grandmother sacrificed for him, noting that she often went without new clothes or passed on buying a car so that she could help him follow his dreams. The timing is particularly sad and will no doubt cast a pall on the next few days, no matter what happens. Certainly she was already immensely proud of Obama. Our thoughts go out to their family.
Here’s Obama in 1979 getting a hug from grandma Madelyn Dunham during his high school graduation. His grandfather Stanley Armour Dunham is on the right.
Update by Celebitchy: Here is Obama speaking for the first time in public about his grandmother’s death.
What a difficult thing for him to have to deal with right now. Glad he got to visit her when he did.
My condolences to him and his family. How sad she didn’t get to see the results of the election, she might have been even prouder of him!
God, I do hope he wins.
Madelyn sounds like she was a wonderful Grandmother to Sen. Obama. This is truly sad that she could not see the end of the election. He must be absolutely heartbroken. 😥
My sincere condolences to the Senator and his family.
So sad. R.I.P. Madelyn. 😥
oh my goodness, how terribly sad for him to have lost her at such a momentous time in his life, and for her not to be here to see what possibly could have been one of her proudest moments. it’s unfortunate for barack obama to have to experience such a range of emotions going through tomorrow.
Certainly she was proud of him regardless whether he won tomorrow or not.
What a sad loss to his family at this moment, but he was lucky to have had her in his life for so long.
So sad. But I am glad she is @ peace and not suffering. She is watching Obama.
Oh, my goodness.
How hard must it be for Barack to do the things he must for the election today and tomorrow with such a sorrow in his heart.
He’s an incredibly strong man.
The whole process that Barack has been through already has been so stressful. Having to deal with this death is unimaginable. My thoughts are with him and his family.
jaybird, do you have an address where letter or flowers can be sent?
this is just so sad. im watching obama talk about it in north carolina and dont know how he can talk about her without just bursting into tears. he’s definitely choking them back.
Sad.
😥
I’m very glad she lived long enough to see him accomplish so many great things. I like to think she left this earth full-well knowing he’d be our next President. I wish his family my deepest condolences and admiration. She sounds like a really strong, peaceful soul!!
JaneSays – I was about to say the same thing. Maybe she already knew he was going to be President so she felt like it was OK to go. I like to think that, too.
Wow, was he ever a goodlooking man. I mean, he still is, but wow. Such nice pictures of him and his grandma.
I really, really hope he wins tomorrow. I know many of my fellow Canadians are hoping for the same thing (in fact, I know many people worldwide are hoping for the same thing.)
R.I.P. Madelyn Dunham. And good luck tomorrow, Obama.
Ah, much condolences expressed.
At least she is not suffering anymore. i bet she is watching….
RIP Toot.
Cancer is so very cruel. It is comforting to know Obama’s Tutu is no longer in pain, and can watch over her family in peace.
Thank you Madelyn for raising your grandson as you did. Because of your hard work, love and devotion, people the world over have hope for a brighter future.
You are a great woman and your spirit lives on in the hearts of millions.
How sad. It must be very hard for him and his family to reconcile with their loss on the eve of a very important event. My condolences.
My parents were talking to me last week about how conspiracy theories in my staunchly conservative hometown flew when Obama took time off to visit his sick grandmother in Hawaii. I guess the consensus was Obama was “taunting” red voters by “taking a vacation” since he was up in the polls. Normally I take delight in proving them wrong, but . . .
Damn.
I wish I knew how to stop death but that feet is reserved for it’s creator.
On the biggest day of his life, I cannot imagine the sense of loss he must feel. The loss of a parent, and she was his parent for many years, is incalculable.
Oh dear. How bittersweet becoming president elect tomorrow will feel, assuming all the predictions are accurate. (If they aren’t, I don’t know what anyone of us are going to do.)
Walk in beauty, Madelyn Dunham.
So sad. Obama was wiping away tears as he spoke at a rally in NC. He even made me cry…
This is so heartbreaking because they won’t be able to share tomorrow’s historic outcome.
She must have been an amazing woman to have helped raise such an amazing man. And I imagine when she was growing up in rural Kansas she never expected to be the grandmother of the first African-American president.
he is such a great man with a heart of gold he’s brilliant and so handsome, i feel sad for him losing his mother and now his grandmother i wish to god he wins he’s the best thing that can happen to us i pray day and night for him to win.
RIP, Toot. May you be smiling from up above tomorrow.
Aloha i’a ‘oe, Tutuwahine Dunham. You’ve given us a fine gift in your grandson, Barack. I have no doubt he’ll do you proud, and you can look down and say “That’s my grandson, the President of the United States.”
E aloha no.
So bittersweet.
Those pictures are so incredibly old. Rumor has it he did not keep in touch with her much over these later years, yet you are all reacting exactly as his handlers hoped you would. This great country is about to perish because of a bunch of sheep-like, voting nincompoops who believe any sad story they are told. It’s always unfortunate when someone dies, but what great timing for Obama…….
Oh, right, Lia, I’m sure his campaign managers planned for his grandmother to die so he could get a few more votes. Get a heart! We often don’t see older relatives much as we get older and busier. I’m sure the love was still there, and I’m sure he is missing her today.
@Lia even if the pictures were 2 days old, so what? Those pictures tell a story and Madelyne had a great impact on Obama’s life. So you nincompoop it doesnt matter how much time he spent with her, atleast she knows he cared enough to say his last goodbye.
Obama/Biden ’08
Lia,
Your comment is so IGNORANT…but it’s okay because come tomorrow; we as a nation will be too blessed to be stressed out about “small-minded” people as yourself. I feel that Barack can turn this country around and he will if just given the opportunity… IT IS TIME FOR A CHANGE! And Lia, get your facts STRAIGHT…Barack was CLOSE to his grandmother!
I have to agree, Lia. Something’s not quite right about this.
And, Roni, it’s small-minded to call people ignorant for stating their opinions. It’s a free country. Deal with it.
This is so sad. My heart goes out to them.
I read somewhere that a bunch of Aussie docs (I love me some Aussies!) did a study proving that less people would have voted for “Barry Dunham” (Barack’s nickname at school and his mum’s surname). The study was titled “Barack Obama or Barry Dunham?”
Okay, that’s just a little bit stupid, methinks: I know for a fact that I would’ve voted for the man regardless of his name. And the people who took part in the study had to choose between a name they have known for the last 3 years at least versus a name they’ve never heard before.
OBVIOUSLY the name you know will sound more familiar — but you CANNOT know who you would have voted for if you had never heard the name Barack Obama before. Am I making sense?
All I’m actually saying is that if we had always known the man as Barry Dunham, the name Barack Obama would have sounded alien to us!
I have to add, though: I would’ve voted for him no matter what his name was, except I’m South African, so it doesn’t count, I hear…
So what do you think it is, Danielle? Did they have her killed to get the pity vote? And is it worse to call someone ignorant than to call someone a “sheep-like, voting nincompoop”?
The absolute ignorance of people amazes me sometimes.
I am pretty sure Obama would prefer to have his grandma holding the Bible for him on inauguration day than to lose her in the last day of the campaign.
Lia and Danielle – The only thing not right about Barack’s grandma’s passing is that she won’t be here to see his dream realized. You two should be ashamed. 😡
And, I would like to join Lunachick in thanking Madelyn for raising such a wonderful Man.
I agree Syko. Losing someone close to you, whether you see them every day or not is unbearable. If he didn’t see her as much as he wanted, guilt can be debilitating.
A conspiracy theory is ridiculous.
Get out and vote everyone 😉
see next comment
Thanks Skyo, some people just amaze me to think that Barack is using his grandmother’s death as a ploy or conspiracy…what a joke! I voted before I came to work this morning…I was in that line early and I just pray the “right” man gets elected for the job! I was so proud as I held onto my daughter’s hand in that line to think that a black man, could really be our president in my lifetime! I get really emotional…I have been crying a lot…I’m just so proud to be alive and have my young daughter see that “YES, WE CAN!”
Barack Obama is not a “black” man. He’s biracial. Funny how my comments are awaiting moderation as well. Am I not allowed to state my own opinion because I have a different viewpoint to share?
I’m not ashamed of myself because I’m not being gullible and I take politicians’ promises with a grain of salt. They’re not the gospel for God’s sake. And there’s a reason this was never meant to be a socialist nation. People will find out why that is though soon enough. I’m only sorry that a lot of people are going to suffer in the name of higher taxes, including myself.
And for the record, Abraham Lincoln was either biracial or tri-racial. So Barack Obama will be the second multiracial president.
Danielle: Higher taxes? LISTEN UP. He did not say that he was going to raise taxes. You obviously have not been paying enough attention and people like you who fall for the ‘socialist boogyman’ baloney are part of the reason this country has gone so far down the toilet. You prefer that companies like Boeing have got away with paying NO taxes while the rest of us peons pay for it?
Danielle, I think most of the more political threads which could get inflammatory could be automatically set to moderation – we’ll see if this thread is moderated. Otherwise you could be using key words, sentences or symbols which trigger the spambot. We’re all under moderation on some threads, so there really is no need for paranoia.
As for whether Barack saw his granny recently or not – his detractors would complain that he wasn’t spending enough time in his home constituency and traipsing off on jollies to Hawaii if he had visited her more.
If it’s any consolation, I’m sure that Barak and his extended family found the convenient timing most inconvenient – winding down from an election campaign and trying to organise a funeral can be such a hassle 🙄
I lived in Ireland for two years and I have nothing against socialism. I don’t think it’s a bad thing…for a small country with a smaller population. They share common ideals and get things done because they work on it mainly together. Sheep don’t lead, they follow. And he’s going to have to raise taxes to pay back this huge debt. So would McCain. Only problem on raising taxes on businesses is that they’ll raise prices to cater for what they owe. The big wheel turns. Just make sure you duck when it turns your way.
ok, my previous thread did go into moderation, so there goes that conspiracy theory 😉
Danielle – it may interest you to know that Obama plans on taxing American corporations who base themselves abroad, which could lead to jobs being lost worldwide and redirected back to America. Which should have an interesting effect on the global economy and immigration to America(for example, Ireland is going to be in serous trouble if we lose Intel/the remainder of Dell/Google/MBNA etc etc)
Hey guys, Danielle is gripping about higher taxes because she/he must be in the very small minority that makes >250K. For the good of this country, if it helps, I’ll gladly pay higher taxes! and I currently make close to $0…
GOD bless Obama and his family!
Miriam, if you think any politician won’t raise taxes someway or another, you will be sorely disappointed.
So Danielle is in a different tax bracket than you are. When the government takes almost %30 of your $$ like it does with us, I wonder if you would still claim that you would gladly pay it.
Peace
The real question, Danielle, is if Obama turns out to be an amazing president, who redirects jobs to the US, ends an immoral war, helps to universalize health care and saves the majority of lower and middle class citizens money, will you be a big enough person to admit that you were wrong? Or will that somehow be a conspiracy too?! 🙄
@Lia and Danielle, my grandmother died last year from cancer. When I was a kid, I was over at my grandparents’ house all the time. As I got older, I spent less and less time with them. It didn’t mean I loved them any less. But I was becoming an adult. I was living the life they wanted for me. When my grandmother was diagnosed, I still didn’t visit her as much as I should have and she lived ten minutes from me (not across an ocean like Mrs. Dunham). It was hard watching the woman who had made my booboos better and taught me how to cook wither away and lose herself to the disease that ravaged her body. When she finally gave up the fight, I felt this immense guilt that I didn’t spend more time with her. I would imagine that’s how Sen. Obama might be feeling right now. That you would read about the death of an obviously loving woman and use it as a forum to insult people and espouse your political views says a great deal more about you as a human beings than it does about Barack Obama or anything he stands for.
@ lia: wow. those are pretty harsh words…what is wrong with you? just because people drift apart doesn’t mean there is no love. when someone you care about dies come back and let us know how convenient it is for you. stop being so ignorant.
@ danielle: lincoln was tri-racial? just curious – where did you read this?
I’ve read a great deal about Lincoln, because the Victorian era is interesting to me, and I have never seen any hint, other than rumors started by the opposition, that he was bi-racial. I don’t even know what tri-racial means, I’m not sure there is such a thing, and never heard the term before today.
Obama is half Caucasian, half African. He apparently chooses to align himself with his black heritage. What difference does it make? He’s a human being.
Someone is going to HAVE to raise taxes to pay for Bush’s war. Someone is going to have to find the money somewhere to pay back the Chinese for all that we borrowed from them. Anyone who claims he can do that without a tax increase is lying to you.
Hey Danielle – I hadn’t seen your last comment when I posted mine. I had forgotten you said you lived here; sorry about that. I can see that you’ve developed our cynicism for politicians 😉
(which seems to magically disappear once completely unsustainable promises, which can be delivered in the first year but certainly not long-term, are made by Fianna Fáil 🙄 ).
For those unaware of Irish politics, it’s not so much a system of governance as a blood-sport where we aim for soft-Capitalism (low taxes) but want French-level Socialist services (lots of public spending)and elect people mainly to get us grant-aid or bitch about. For years this codology was tolerated by the EU, but no longer.
So I do have to pull you up on one thing Danielle, whatever Ireland is, it ain’t really socialist. Possibly a bit more higher direct taxation in the past few years would have cooled the public’s jets in going mad borrowing money and inflating a completely unsustainable housing boom – instead of looking to swell the public’s coffers through indirect taxation on goods, services and stamp duty which is paid when houses are bought?
Guys,
I hate to state this, and my condolences go out to the family, but DAMN! – “She was born in Kansas, in a small town, in 1922, which means that she lived through the Great Depression, and she lived through two World Wars…”?
World War I – 1914 – 1918
World War II – 1939 – 1945 (in Asia it started in 1937, the USA got involved in 1941).
I don’t live in the US, which means I won’t vote, and I truly doubt McCain would have known this, not to mention Sarah Palin, but – DAMN! – does he really have to fullfill the cliché that Americans know nothing about history outside the US? I find that absolutely depressing.
Danielle and Lia: I knew there would be people saying such hateful, disgusting stuff as you did on this board today.
I saw my granddad twice in my lifetime. He lived in Missouri, I live in California. Once when I was really little, about 6 and another time about 5 years ago. He always sent me five dollars on my birthdays.
When he died of throat cancer, I cried for two days.
You two are being extremely disrespectful and horrible talking this way about someone you don’t even know. Kindly take your hateful rhetoric somewhere else.
Oh no! I hope he is OK. He is such a nice man.
Lia – Are you from a small, rural town in Wisconsin by chance?
Danielle – I appreciate your healthy skepticism of politicians, but it is a little harsh to say that Obama is using his grandmother’s death as a political ploy.
If you’ve spent any time in the States recently, you’d know that Obama has done a great job promoting himself already. There’s a large majority of Americans tired of the past regime, and Obama has pandered to, and managed to encapsulate the idea of change on his own accord. On the eve of the election, the margin of truly undecided voters was slim to none. By suggesting that Obama is parlaying sympathetic grievances into votes is just stupid beyond comprehension.
My grandfather died this last January. I’ve seen him only on a few occasions these past years, but he was instrumental in my up-bringing. It was a difficult service to attend, in part because I regret not making the time to see him more often. Even the most smarmy, deceptive, power-hungry politicians are human (on some level) – show some compassion.
It’s his GRANDMOTHER, and she’s DEAD. That’s all that’s going on right now, and it saddens me that a number of people don’t see the situation as simple as that.
You don’t have to vote for him, but it’s not below anyone to show humanity and to have a heart.
Sheesh. Sympathy, people.
Yes, it’s all a big conspiracy theory by the democratic party. 🙄
I think someone has been listening to Rush too much.
And by the way, Obama is NOT a socialist.
Look it up and educate yourself.
http://www.factcheck.org
@ Lia and Danielle: Even if you don’t agree with what Obama stands for how dare you say something like that? His grandmother died. If someone has ever died that is close to the two of you, does anyone try and hash up the past between you and said dead person? I doubt they have so why on earth would you want to bring that up? It’s heartless. I’m an Obama supporter but if someone in the McCain family died I would never try and dig into the background of them to say ‘Well he hasn’t talked to her in years.’ (That may be just me)
Maybe it hits home because I lost my father back in 2005, but no one should ever say those things. Yes everyone is entitled to their opinion but when it comes to a death in the family the verbal assults need to cease- Even if you don’t like the other person.
It is beyond idiotic, in my opinion, to say those things. Death is a normal thing that happens to anyone, including Obama. Even in gossip sites there is no need to say the things that the both of you have said- Though Danielle’s posts expand more so into the debates which I respect.