"She was the cornerstone of our family"

Madelyn Payne Dunham, Barack ObamaBarack Obama's grandmother, whose personality and bearing shaped much of the life of the newly elected President of United States of America, passed away just a day before the Election Day. She was 86. She died while fighting cancer.

Barrack Obama, while announcing the sad news, said: "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."

The Kansas-born Dunham and her husband, Stanley, raised their grandson for several years in Honolulu while their daughter and her second husband lived overseas. Her influence on Obama's manner and the way he viewed the world was substantial, the candidate told millions watching him accept his party's nomination in Denver in August. "She's the one who taught me about hard work. She's the one who put off buying a new car or a new dress for herself so that I could I have better life. She poured everything she had into me".

Obama told people that she lived through the Great Depression and World War II, working the latter on a bomber assembly line with a baby at home and a husband serving his country. He said she was humble and plain spoken, one of the "quiet heroes that we have all across America" working hard and hoping to see their children and grandchildren thrive.

Barrack Obama lost a very important person in his life one that loved and cared for him and who helped mold him into the man he is today. He must have been devastated but yet he carried on with his campaign and proved on the Election Day that he was brought up to be a strong person.