Mrs Madelyn Dunham remembered

November 4, 2008
Pantagraph.com
AP's HERALD A SAMPLE

SAMPLE gives us insight into Mrs Dunham that barry has not provided - nor demanded be provided. (emphasis added)

[Barry:] "She's the one who taught me about hard work," he said in August. "She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could have a better life. She poured everything she had into me."

But he couldn't find it in himself to stay for her birthday or return for her funeral. Ones words are only as honest as ones actions.

Those who knew Dunham described her as a calm, assured and directed woman who was instrumental in shaping Obama. He lived with her and his grandfather in their modest two-bedroom apartment from 1971 until 1979 - the same apartment where she died late Sunday.

The family is planning a small, private ceremony.

Many folks think that his grandmother was simply a typical white person post-WWI housewife, who said racists comments that "made him cringe". The same grandmother he equated to the raging spewing hate wright. Note that she rose to Vice President in the 70's and without a college degree. This woman had it going on. Her daughter, barry's always forgotten mother, got her Ph.D and worked setting up microbanking in Pakistan and Indonesia.

Rep. Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat, said in an interview that Dunham "died as she lived. She was a woman of strength, great character, a solid anchor in that family."

Dunham, who took university classes but never earned a degree, nonetheless rose from a secretarial job at the Bank of Hawaii to become one of the state's first female bank vice presidents.

"Every morning, she woke up at 5 a.m. and changed from the frowsy muumuus she wore around the apartment into a tailored suit and high-heeled pumps," Obama wrote in his memoir "Dreams from My Father."

He has often mentioned "Toot" - his version of the Hawaiian word "tutu," or grandparent - as an example of a strong woman succeeding through intelligence and determination.

More interesting info that was just recently revealed.

When Obama was young, he and his grandmother toured the United States by Greyhound bus, stopping at the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone Park, Disneyland and Chicago, where Obama would years later settle.

Now these women would be interesting to talk to.

At the Honolulu Senior Citizens Club on Monday, three of Dunham's fellow bridge players lamented her passing. "She was a lovely lady," said Alice Young, 84, who last saw Dunham about two years ago.

Nahid Mabid, 78, said Dunham would accept no assistance when they last played together two years ago, even though she was confined to a wheelchair. "She would say she could manage herself. She didn't want help from anyone."

The real truth and insight of Mrs Dunham as a person would be revealed through the eyes of women of her generation. Women who knew her as Madelyn, as well as Mrs Dunham and barry's grandmother. I do hope someone has been chronicling their stories. Stories barry cannot alter or ignore.

Is there anyone interested in the truth--the absolute truth--of who obama really is?