Barack Obama's beloved grandmother dead at 86: 'She's gone home'
 

Madyeln Payne Dunham — the grandmother whose strong morals and determination helped shape Barack Obama into the man who would one day become the first African-American to run for President of the United States — has died. She was 86.

Obama announced Monday — one day before the presidential election — that his beloved grandmother died Sunday night after a battle with cancer. He told a huge crowd of supporters at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte:

She's gone home. And she died peacefully in her sleep with my sister at her side. And so there is great joy as well as tears."
Obama said he wanted the country to know more about his grandmother. The Associated Press reports:

She lived through the Great Depression and two World Wars, working the second on a bomber assembly line with a baby at home and a husband serving his country. ... 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.
Our hearts and our prayers are with Senator Obama and his family on this election eve.

Source:Examiner