In Memoriam - Madelyn Dunham

As I was growing up my parents would often tell me: "Grandma Nora will never be dead as long as you are alive." Like my Grandmother, I would never abide by a decision unless it came from an authority figure at the very top. Forget the teacher, I asked the principal. I wouldn't negotiate with a clerk, I wanted to speak with the manager. And if I didn't agree with that person, I would always look for another way to prevail.

By all account Barack Obama had the same role model in his grandmother.

USA Today reports:

Barack Obama's trailblazing effort to become the nation's first black president has a family precedent.

Madelyn Dunham, Obama's grandmother, blazed a feminist trail in Hawaii banking circles in the late 1960s and early 1970s and rose to become one of the Bank of Hawaii's first female vice presidents.

Durham ... had two obstacles to overcome in Hawaii at the time — being a woman and being part of the state's white minority.

"Was she ambitious? She had to be to become a vice president," said Clifford Y.J. Kong, 82, who was a senior credit officer at the bank at the time. "She was a top-notch executive to get appointed. It was a tough world."

Sadly, on the eve of this historic election Sen. Obama's grandmother died this morning.

The New York Times reports:

Mr. Obama, who left the presidential campaign trail late last month to travel to Honolulu to bid her farewell, announced the death in a statement released by his spokesman upon landing here this afternoon. Her death comes one day shy of Election Day.

“It is with great sadness that we announce that our grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, has died peacefully after a battle with cancer,” Mr. Obama said in a statement. “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.”

Madelyn Dunham, who turned 86 on Oct. 26, was unable to travel to see her grandson on the campaign trail. But from her apartment in Honolulu, she religiously followed his bid for the presidency, tracking his movements and his progression through cable television.

Mr. Obama learned of his grandmother’s death a little after 8 a.m. in Jacksonville, Fla., where he had spent the evening, said Robert Gibbs, a senior adviser. Mr. Gibbs said that Mrs. Dunham died late Sunday evening on Hawaii Standard Time, which was between 4 and 5 a.m. on the East Coast.

“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,” Mr. Obama said in the statement. “Our debt to her is beyond measure.”

Our sympathies to the Senator and his family, and may Madelyn Dunham rest in peace.

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