Obama's grandmother remembered as calm, assured

Barack Obama told millions watching him accept the Democratic nomination in Denver that his grandmother's influence on who he is and the way he views the world was substantial.

"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."

Madelyn Payne Dunham died from cancer late Sunday -only a few days before seeing her grandson become the nation's first black president. She was 86.

"She's gone home," Obama said on Monday as tens of thousands of rowdy supporters at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte grew silent in an evening drizzle. "And she died peacefully in her sleep with my sister at her side. And so there is great joy as well as tears."

Obama lived with his grandparents from 1971 to 1979 in the modest two-bedroom apartment in Honolulu where she died Sunday. The family is planning a small, private ceremony.

今年8月，奥巴马在丹佛接受民主党总统候选人正式提名时，对数百万支持者说，他的外祖母对他的性格和世界观形成影响很大。

他说：“她告诉我要努力工作，为了我，她省吃俭用，倾注了所有心血。”

而就在上周日晚些时候、大选日的前夕，奥巴马的外祖母因患癌症去世，享年86岁，否则她就可以亲眼看见自己的外孙当选为美国首位黑人总统了。

本周一晚在北卡罗来纳州立大学夏洛特分校的竞选活动中，奥巴马对几万名支持者说：“她走了。”当时的天空飘着细雨，喧闹的人群立刻安静下来。他说：“她在睡梦中安静离开了，我的妹妹一直陪伴在她的身边。我很伤心但也很欣慰。”

从1971年到1979年，奥巴马一直与外祖父母生活在一起，他们居住在檀香山的一套普通的二居室公寓里，上周日他的外祖母就在这里去世。奥巴马的家人正在筹办一个小规模的私人葬礼。