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Obama and his grandparents in an undated file photo
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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.
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(Agencies)
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今年8月，奧巴馬在丹佛接受民主黨總統候選人正式提名時，對數百萬支持者說，他的外祖母對他的性格和世界觀形成影響很大。
他說：“她告訴我要努力工作，為了我，她省吃儉用，傾注了所有心血。”
而就在上周日晚些時候、大選日的前夕，奧巴馬的外祖母因患癌癥去世，享年86歲，否則她就可以親眼看見自己的外孫當選為美國首位黑人總統了。
本周一晚在北卡羅來納州立大學夏洛特分校的競選活動中，奧巴馬對幾萬名支持者說：“她走了。”當時的天空飄著細雨，喧鬧的人群立刻安靜下來。他說：“她在睡夢中安靜離開了，我的妹妹一直陪伴在她的身邊。我很傷心但也很欣慰。”
從1971年到1979年，奧巴馬一直與外祖父母生活在一起，他們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這里去世。奧巴馬的家人正在籌辦一個小規模的私人葬禮。
（實習生許雅寧 英語點津姍姍編輯） |
