Barack Obama's final goodbye to beloved grandmother

NY Daily News ^ | Dec.24, 2008

[COUNTrecount]

Michelle and Barack Obama attend a seaside memorial for his grandmother, "Toot."

HONOLULU - President-elect Barack Obama gathered with family and friends on Tuesday for a private memorial service for the beloved grandmother who helped raise him.

Madelyn Payne Dunham, known to her friends as "Toot", died Nov. 2, two days before Obama won election to become the nation's first African-American president. She was 86.

Obama did not speak to reporters at the small home that had been converted into the First Unitarian Church in the neighborhood of Nuuanu. Aides said Obama's half-sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, and her husband, Konrad Ng, also were present.

Following the ceremony, Obama drove to cliffs east of Hononulu. He and about 20 members of his family climbed over a stone wall and down onto rocky ledges to scatter Dunham's ashes at Lanai Lookout.

Obama earlier this year left flowers at the same cliffs, in memory of his mother.

[COUNTrecount]

[vladimir998]

Beloved? Don’t they mean “typical white woman”?

[LottieDah]

The Obamas really look broken up over Granny’s death.

[stuartcr]

Since it’s Christmas Eve, I hope people have enough class to not make fun of someone’s dead grandmather.

[silverleaf]

LOL! It wasn’t the first time zerO threw Granny off a cliff.

“beloved”- not. Granny’s autopsy report (sarc) may RIP along with her knowledge of the truth about her daughter’s behaviors and zerO’s birth and upbringing.

[tatsinfla]

relieved is more like it now that she can’t spill the beans about his birth....

[tatsinfla]

i don’t think we are making fun of the grandma’s death...we make fun of zero.....

why didn’t he take the family to say goodbye to her when she was alive...??...but he takes the family to a memorial service....makes one wonder...

[billorites]

"Maya Soetoro-Ng, and her husband, Konrad Ng"

You would think the least Obama could do is to buy his sister and her husband a couple more vowels...

[FrankR]

"beloved grandmother"

He shows up two months after she died to pay homage, and she is described as "beloved"?

That takes care of the stateside leaks about his birth certificate, and Emanuel is in Kenya taking care of the leaks over there...so, the "one" is safe.

[csmusaret]

Being thrown under a bus can be hazardous to your health.

[stuartcr]

Good. It’s too good a season to be saying mean things about people.

[MaxMax]

Did he make a cross out of rocks on the beach? See, now that would've showed
he really really really cared.

[heartwood]

When I went to the funeral of my grandmother or other elderly relatives who had been sick a long time, I wasn’t broken with grief either. Sad, yes, more about the decline and cruelty of old age than about the release. I was still happy to see other family members and friends, and we even laughed sometimes talking over our memories.

Is it nothing but sackcloth and ashes and tears and keening and rending of garments at the funerals you go to?

[MaxMax]

Honey, are those breasts on your back?

[Does so]

"...but he takes the family to a memorial service....makes one wonder..."

At least worn a tie, maybe...

[HungarianGypsy]

Some people thought I was heartless the way I acted after my dad died. We made the typical dark jokes, not about him, but about media and the situation. I had told myself I would never give the media the satisfaction of seeing me cry. Also, my dad had said he wanted a party for his funeral, so the visitation was a lot of laughter. All started because my six month old decided to start laughing while playing with his socks.

My issue with Obama is the two month time span.

[bvw]

Work-in-progress timeline based on a Larry Sinclair article and revised with alternate sources:

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• Mon 20 Oct, Late in the day, Chicago, CDT: [SwampPolitics] Obama announces campaign suspension as of 23rd so as to fly to Hawaii to visit "very serious" condition ailing grandmother Dunham [source]
• Tue 21 Oct: [Sinclair] Death of Obama's grandmother Madelyn L. Dunham according to sources employed in the coroner's office
• Wed 22 Oct: Obama announces "absolutely no video or photo ops during my upcoming visit with my ailing grandmother," and "I do not expect my grandmother to make it to election day."
• Thu 23 Oct, night in Hawaii: Obama arrives and rushes to Dunham's apartment [via Reuters]
• Fri 24 Oct, morning in Ohio, EDT: Michelle Obama claims "I spoke with tutu last night and she is strong and in good health." [alt source]
• Fri 24 Oct: [Sinclair] Dunham is cremated according to coroner's office sources
• Fri 24 Oct: Larry Sinclair places two calls to home of Dunham. On one he speaks to Obama half-sister Maya Ng Maya who claims Dunham could not talk. [I'm presuming Sinclair was in Chicago, CDT]
• Fri 24 Oct: Obama leaves Hawaii to fly to Reno, Nevada resumimg his campaign [via Reuters]
• Sat 25 Oct 1:22 am Reno Nevada, PDT: Obama's jet arrives in Reno where a rally is scheduled for afternoon at Peccole Stadium [source]
• Sun 26 Oct: Dunham's 86th birthday. Sinclair writes that "no one" came to visit her.

  ---

• Sun 02 Nov: This is the date of Dunham's death as reported by Hawaiian officials and Maya Ng some time after the initial announcements and news reports on the 3rd [alt source]
• Mon 03 Nov: The date of Dunham's death as initially announced by Obama and reported by media on this same day [alt source]
• Tue 04 Nov: Election Day. Obama wins Nevada by 55% to 43%. Nevada is not considered a "battleground" state according to CNN.

  ---

• Fri 14 Nov: Dunham's friends hold public memorial service at the Punchbowl National Cemetary. About 200 people, Obama and Maya Ng send letter that is read. [via Honolulu Advertiser]

  ---

• Sat 20 Dec: Obama and family arrive in Hawaii [via Yahoo/AP]
• Tue 23 Dec: Obama and family hold private memorial for Dunham where they scatter her ashes into the sea from a rocky beach

  ---

Please add with pertinent succinct details. I added the time zones, please note that in 2008 daylight savings time ended on 2 Nov. Daylight savings time begins at 2 am local time, when clocks are turned back to 1 am. Hawaii does not observe daylight savings time.

In the scope of the timeline: Hawaii is 5 hours behind New York after 2 Nov, and 6 hours before that.

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Open Questions and Issues:

• Looking for any reports of Dunham's health in the year prior to 20 Oct.

• Looking for any reports of the handling of Dunham's body after her death. Where was her body stored? When was it cremated?

• Looking for any reports of others who live in that complex or nearby that would have seen visitors, doctors, EMTs, or the coroner come to her place.

• Looking for reports and photos of the visits Obama made to Dunham's apartment -- the time of the visit, who visited, descriptions of their expressions and such.

[bvw]

Calpernia says that Andy Martin talked with Dunham while Martin was in Hawaii, which overlapped when Obama was there in October.

[autumnraine]

The celebratory leap. Yeah, I always JUMP into the air into my husband’s arms at a funeral.

http://bauergriffinonline.com/2008/12/bfm_enlarged/enlarged-obama-remembers-his-grandmothe.php?bfm_index=18&bfm_page=2

[autumnraine]

Nice that he takes time out of his busy Christmas vacation to have a funeral for Grandma.

Hey, I have an idea! Why don’t we just store up all the dead family members and have funerals for all of them together at Christmas. Would certainly save money for airfare.