US election: Obama's grandmother Madelyn Dunham dies of cancer Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington guardian.co.uk, Monday November 03 2008 22.15 GMT
Barack Obama poses with his grandparents Stanley Armour and Madelyn Dunham in the 1980s. Dunham died on the eve of election day. Photograph: Courtesy of Obama for America Madelyn Dunham, the grandmother who was the anchor in the life of the child that was Barack Obama, died today just hours before polling stations opened in America's historic election. "It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died peacefully after a battle with cancer," Obama said in a joint statement with his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng. "She was the cornerstone of our family, and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength and humility." Dunham, 86, had been in poor health for the duration of Obama's campaign - though he has often said that she followed politics avidly. Just two weeks ago, her grandson took a break from campaigning to visit her at her modest apartment block in central Honolulu after she fell and broke her hip. Some had seen the hiatus at such a critical time as a political risk to Obama, but the Democrat said that one of his greatest regrets was his failure to be with his mother when she was dying of ovarian cancer. He also admitted then he was not sure that his grandmother would live to see election day. In his memoir, Obama credited Dunham for giving him the stability he might otherwise have lacked, being raised without a father and by a mother who travelled between Hawaii and Indonesia. He returned from Indonesia to live with his grandparents when he was 10, and Dunham enrolled him in the exclusive Punahou school in Hawaii. Friends had described Dunham, who was originally from Kansas, as an example of strength and determination. She worked her way up for a clerical job to a management position at the Bank of Hawaii. Obama mentioned Dunham regularly on the campaign trail, often to emphasise his connection to the white Kansas heartland. But the Democrat also admitted that his relationship with his white grandmother was complicated. In his landmark speech on race last April, he acknowledged his grandmother, for all her strengths, had attitudes on race that at times made him cringe. Dunham's death leaves Obama with only one remaining link to his childhood in his younger sister, Maya, who lives in Hawaii. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "World News Now Discussion List" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/wnndl?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
