Obama recalls with tears the figure of his recently deceased grandmother
The Democratic candidate has remembered his grandmother at an emotional rally in North Carolina. He has already received condolences from McCain and his wife Cindy
The Democratic candidate for the White House Barack Obama today remembered his recently deceased grandmother Madelyn Dunham, during an emotional rally in North Carolina in which he promised to honor those who "sacrificed for us."
During his time in North Carolina, the candidate referred to the "quiet heroes" who work in factories across the country.
"Tomorrow we are going to bring change to the United States and make sure that we honor them and that they know that the sacrifice they have made for us has been worth it," he said with tears in his eyes.
Dunham, whom Obama visited just a week ago as her health deteriorated, was Obama's maternal grandmother and she raised him with her grandfather.
"It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, passed away today (Tuesday) peacefully after a battle with cancer," Obama said in a joint statement with her half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng.
"She was the cornerstone of our family and a woman of extraordinary achievement, strength and humility," the statement added.
Dunham, whom Obama called "Toot," a version of the Hawaiian term "tutu," meaning grandmother, raised the now-senator in a stable home and has been a constant presence on the campaign trail.
Foundational in your education
In March, Obama referred to her as "the woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed herself for me over and over again, and a woman who loves me more than anything in the world."
The candidate has often recalled how Dunham instilled in him a love of work and a belief in one's own possibilities.
"She was the one who taught me about hard work, the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress so I could have a better life. She gave me everything she had," the Democratic candidate said during his acceptance speech. of his presidential candidacy at the end of August in Denver, Colorado.
"Tonight is for her," he stated then.
a complex life
Born in October 1922, Madelyn Payne, her maiden name, was the daughter of a Midwestern oil company worker and grew up in Kansas.
In 1940 she married Stanley Dunham, and during World War II she worked for the Boeing aircraft company.
The marriage later moved to Honolulu, where she raised her grandson.
Obama is the son of Ann Dunham and Barack Obama Sr., a Harvard-educated Kenyan economist, both now deceased, who separated when he was just two years old.
His mother remarried Lolo Soetoro-Ng, a citizen of Indonesia, where Obama spent several years of his childhood before returning to Hawaii at the age of ten to live with his grandparents and thus have access to better education.
In his autobiographical book 'Dreams from my father', Obama describes his grandmother, the first woman to become a vice president of the Bank of Hawaii, as "a woman who was suspicious when they were too friendly with her and I believed in exaggerations and that common sense prevailed".
McCain's condolences
Republican White House hopeful John McCain today expressed his condolences to Obama on the loss of his grandmother.
"We offer our deepest condolences to Barack Obama and his family as they mourn the loss of his beloved grandmother," McCain and his wife Cindy said in a statement.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with them as they remember and celebrate the life of someone with a profound impact on their lives," the statement added.
