U.S.
President
Barack
Obama
(R), his
wife
Michelle
Obama
(L) and
her
mother
Marian
Robinson
(C)
return
via
helicopter
from a
visit at
Camp
David to
the
White
House in
Washington,
October
9, 2011.
REUTERS/Jonathan
Ernst/File
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U.S.
first
lady
Michelle
Obama
(L) sits
alongside
her
mother
Marian
Robinson
as she
hosts a
Mother's
Day
event in
the
State
Dining
Room of
the
White
House in
Washington
May 7,
2010.
REUTERS/Jason
Reed/File
Photo |
|
Marian
Robinson,
mother
of
Michelle
Obama,
dies at
86
By
Kanishka
Singh
reuters.com
WASHINGTON
- Marian
Robinson,
mother
of
former
U.S.
first
lady
Michelle
Obama,
who
provided
support
and
stability,
especially
during
the
eight
years of
Barack
Obama's
presidency,
died on
Friday,
the
Obama
and
Robinson
families
said.
She was
86.
Fondly
called
the
"first
grandma,"
Robinson
played a
pivotal
role in
helping
care for
her
granddaughters,
Malia
and
Sasha
Obama,
during
their
early
years at
the
White
House.
"With a
healthy
nudge,
she
agreed
to move
to the
White
House
with
Michelle
and
Barack.
We
needed
her. The
girls
needed
her. And
she
ended up
being
our rock
through
it all,"
the
family
statement
read,
adding
she died
"peacefully"
on
Friday
morning.
Born in
1937 on
Chicago's
South
Side,
Robinson
was one
of seven
children.
Her
parents
separated
during
her
teenage
years
and she
witnessed
the
extreme
highs
and lows
of race
relations
in the
United
States.
Her
father
was not
allowed
to join
a union
or work
for
larger
construction
firms
due to
the
color of
his skin
and
hence
"grew
mistrustful
of a
world
that
seemed
to have
little
place
for
him,"
the
family
said its
statement.
Yet, her
daughter
and
son-in-law
made it
to the
White
House
when
Barack
Obama
became
the
first
Black
U.S.
president.
The
glamour
of the
White
House
was
never a
great
fit for
Robinson,
according
to the
family.
Rather
than
hobnobbing
with
Oscar
winners
or Nobel
laureates,
she
preferred
spending
her time
upstairs
with a
TV tray,
in the
room
outside
her
bedroom
with big
windows
that
looked
out at
the
Washington
Monument,
the
family
statement
said. It
added
that she
made
great
friends
"with
the
ushers
and
butlers,
the
folks
who make
the
White
House a
home."
Robinson
got
married
in 1960
and had
two
children,
including
the
former
first
lady.
She also
worked
as a
teacher
and a
secretary,
the
family
said.
During
her
eight
years at
the
White
House,
the
family
said she
would
often
sneak
outside
the
gates to
buy
greeting
cards at
nearby
stores
and
sometimes
other
customers
would
recognize
her
saying
she
resembled
the
first
lady's
mother.
"Oh, I
get that
a lot,"
she
would
smile
and
reply.
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