Obama gives grandmother final aloha (video)

KHNL ^ | 12-24-08

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Honoring his beloved toot. President-elect Barack Obama and family spent the third day of their vacation, remembering the life of Obama's grandmother Madelyn Dunham.

Dying of Cancer, Obama left the campaign trail and rushed to be by her side to be one last time in October. She died at the age of 86 just days before her grandson won the presidency. Obama says his toot raised, loved, and helped him become the man he is today. Almost two months after Dunham's death, the family pays their final respects.

Just as the wind, emotions run strong at Lanai lookout. President-elect Barack Obama and family arrive around 3:30pm after an earlier private service for "Toot" at a Nuuanu church.

Secret Service security keeps a close watch as Obama, oldest daughter Malia and sister Maya Soetoro-Ng, among others, make their way down to the rocky shoreline. Together, they spread the ashes of Madelyn Dunham. It's the same spot Obama paid tribute to his mother last August. She died in 1995.

From politicians to everyday people, hundreds turned out at the National Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl at Dunham's public service in mid-November.

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Video on right side of page.

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From the official memorial service

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Obama scatters grandmother's ashes - Tuesday, December 23, 2008

President Elect Barack Obama spent much of today honoring the memory of the grandmother who raised him and then scattering her ashes at LÅna'i Lookout, the same spot where Obama scattered the ashes of his mother after her death in 1995.

The White House press corps that's traveling with Obama on his third O'ahu visit of the year was not allowed into the First Unitarian Church for an hour-long service in memory of Madelyn Dunham, who died of cancer at the age of 86 just two days before Obama's presidential victory.

And media were not allowed to accompany Obama, his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, her husband, and Obama's immediate family of wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia as they picked their way down to LÅna'i Lookout and its wave-swept, rocky shoreline today afternoon.

It's the same spot where Obama scattered the ashes of his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham, after she died of cancer at the age of 53.

During a family vacation in August, Obama returned to LÅna'i Lookout to toss a lei into the ocean in memory of his mother.

While local and national media were kept away today, Lauray Gouveia of Kaimuki managed to snap several photos of the Obama entourage of about 12 people that visited the lookout for 20 minutes.

Gouveia suffered her own health scare in May when she came down with pneumonia and sympathized with Obama's emotions.

"To lose someone that close, I felt his pain," she said.

Gouveia wanted to be close to Obama and capture his image, but would not allow herself to photograph him scattering his grandmother's ashes.

"It's too personal," she said. "It's pono. You've got to do the right thing."

Although Secret Service and other law enforcement kept shooing Gouveia away, she persisted.

"I wanted to see someone who's going to help us help ourselves to make some serious changes," she said. "Thinking about it, it's just chicken skin. Man, does he have a job-and-a-half to do."

Dunham and her husband, Stanley Dunham, raised Obama in their two-bedroom, 10th-floor apartment on Beretania Street while his mother traveled and pursued her graduate studies in Indonesia with his sister.

Obama called his grandmother "Toot," after the Hawaiian name for grandparent, tutu. Her husband, Stanley Dunham, was "gramps." The ashes of Stanley Dunham — a sergeant in Patton's 7th Army in Europe — are inurned at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl.

Madelyn Dunham was suffering from osteoporosis and cancer when she fell in her apartment and broke her hip in early October.

Within days, Obama's campaign announced his sudden decision to cancel appearances during his presidential campaign so he could make the long flight home to visit Dunham.

Family friends at the time said Obama did not want to relive his experience in 1995, when he arrived too late to say goodbye to his mother.

He had been raised by both of his maternal grandparents: Stanley — the gregarious and fun-loving pal, who struggled to sell furniture and then insurance on O'ahu; and Madelyn, the stern, no-nonsense banking executive who draped young Barack in equal parts Kansas values and grandmotherly love.

During his campaign for the presidency, Obama's grandmother represented the last close adult figure from his childhood after already losing his mother, father and grandfather.

In his first public comments after Dunham's death, Obama told a crowd in Charlotte, N.C. that she was a "quiet hero."

"Some of you heard that my grandmother who helped raise me passed away early this morning," Obama said to supporters after her death. "She has gone home. She died peacefully in her sleep with my sister at her side and so, there's great joy as well as tears. I'm not going to talk about it too long because it's hard to talk about. I want everybody to know, though, about her. Her name is Madelyn Dunham. She was born in Kansas in a small town in 1922, which means she lived through the Great Depression, she lived through two world wars."

Obama called Dunham "a very humble person and a very plain-spoken person."

She was like other "quiet heroes we have all across America," Obama said. "They're not famous. Their names aren't in the newspaper. But each and every day they work hard. They watch out for their families. They sacrifice for their families. ... That's what America's about. That's what we're fighting for."

President-elect Barack Obama walks with his niece Suhaila Soetoro-Ng after a seaside memorial for his grandmother Madelyn Payne Dunham in Honolulu, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008.

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In a ceremony held in Hawaii, Obama, teary-eyed, poured his grandmother's ashes into the sea from the sand-lined shore.

Environmentalists were quick to stand up against the move.

The reason behind the contention was the state's Department of Land and Natural Resources Protection Law, which prohibits ashes from being dropped into the ocean. According to the regulation in place, ashes must be poured at a distance of at least three nautical miles.

It has not yet been determined whether Obama will receive a fine for his actions.

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~~PING!

[Cicero]

I think on an earlier thread someone said that there was an exception to the Hawaiian polution law for scattering the ashes of the dead. I don’t know if that’s true, but I suspect it probably is.

[silverleaf]

what an ugly undigified way to dispose of the ashes of a “beloved” grandmother

sing Bette Midler songs in a converted house cum “unitarian chapel” and then climb over a highway fence to dump Granny’s ashes on the rocks beside the “blowhole”- a tourist attraction

no class whatsoever

[Mark was here]

Typical white ashes I presume?

[randog]

I have a friend that's a private pilot. He was asked by a good friend to take him and his mother up in the plane to scatter dad's ashes over his favorite mountain lake. My buddy had done this before and agreed to do it. He instructed his friend on how to put the urn out into the slipstream before opening the lid.

Up they went, and wouldn't you know it, the urn was opened before getting out into the slip stream and all the ashes blew back into the plane cabin. My friend, the pilot, said all he remembers of the incident was the wife of the deceased sitting in the back of the plane with rivers of tears carving canyons through her ash-caked face.

[Canedawg]

She died at the age of 86 just days before her grandson won the presidency

They announced she had died THE DAY before the election, and I immediately said that was bull excrement- she died before that, but they timed the announcement to evoke sympathy for the POS-elect. Now, the truth begins to gradually come out: "days" before, not the day before as the sheeple were originally told. It isnt a major thing, but it's another bad faith manipulation of the truth by The Great Concealer.

[Cicero]

The interesting question is whether she died before Obama flew to Hawaii to visit her or after. Or during?

[Mark was here]

They will say days before the Electoral College.

[ArrogantBustard]

At least the late Grandma won’t have to live in Barry Hussein’s 0b0manati0n.

[Sybeck1]

There got to be a death certificate on file, or do they hide those like the birth certificates?

[angcat]

Is it me only that thinks everything these two do is gross. Michelle looks like a bag lady again. She is a fashion disaster.

[Canedawg]

I believe she died before he went to Hawaii, and that’s why it didnt matter that he waited several days to go there after the announcement came out that she was dying.

On her deathbed= had died.

But he waited to get his ducks in a row regarding meeting the governor about his BC, and then he went out there about a week later.

[joseph20]

Where is the pic of Obama throwing the ashcan into the water?

[autumnraine]

Dying of cancer? I thought she broke her hip. I guess someone told him a broken hip isn’t fatal so he must change his story and hope everyone forgets he said that to start with. It’s worked on the media so far.

[seekthetruth]

Spreading some very interesting reading to those Freepers who want to know about the research that has been done and all the questions that remain unanswered!

Articles From Mark McGrew..Soon to be a host on Plains!
More articles to come along with upcoming schedule of Mark’s program on Plains Radio Network.

Obama The Chicken - Pravda

Obama Has NOT Been Elected President - Pravda

Barack, The Amazing Mr. Obama - Pravda

Obama Conspiracy Theory Nuts - Pravda

The Mysterious Shadow Code Name Obama - Pravda

Obama’s Hope For The World - Pravda Dec. 24

AND DON’T FORGET TO VISIT HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION!:
http://citizenwells.wordpress.com/

[Faith]

Will Media Bust Obama For Grandma's Illegal Sea Burial?

[Cicero]

Yes, I think it’s also possible he wanted to search her appartment for any copies of his paper birth certificate that might be there—or any other possibly embarrassing letters or documents.

[seekthetruth]

Spreading some very interesting reading to those Freepers who want to know about the research that has been done and all the questions that remain unanswered!

Articles From Mark McGrew..Soon to be a host on Plains!
More articles to come along with upcoming schedule of Mark’s program on Plains Radio Network.

Obama The Chicken - Pravda
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/106642-3/

Obama Has NOT Been Elected President - Pravda
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/106684-3/

Barack, The Amazing Mr. Obama - Pravda
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/02-12-2008/106778-Amazing_Obama-0

Obama Conspiracy Theory Nuts - Pravda
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/09-12-2008/106807-Obama_Conspiracy_Theory_Nuts-0

The Mysterious Shadow Code Name Obama - Pravda
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/18-12-2008/106848-Code_Name_Obama-0

Obama’s Hope For The World - Pravda Dec. 24
http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/24-12-2008/106866-Obama_Hope_World-0

AND DON’T FORGET TO VISIT HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION!:
http://citizenwells.wordpress.com/

[TheThinker]

At least the late Grandma won’t have to live in Barry Hussein’s 0b0manati0n.

I don't know what kind of person she was but I think she was likely a better person than Barry. It would be too much to see yourself betrayed by your own grandson and then see him betray your country.