In the hours following this entry, we will know the next president. This day will end in historic fashion, no matter what the outcome. Of all the nuances of both candidate’s biographies, nothing has struck me more than the life and influence of Barack Obama’s grandmother, and the role she played in his life.
From the AP Obit:
‘Madelyn Lee Payne was born to Rolla and Leona Payne in October, 1922, in Peru, Kan., but lived much of her childhood in nearby Augusta. Madelyn and Stanley Dunham married in 1940, a few weeks before she graduated from high school. Their daughter, Stanley Ann, was born in 1942. After several moves to and from California, Texas, Washington and Kansas, Stanley Dunham's job landed the family in Hawaii. The Kansas-born Dunham and her husband, Stanley, raised their grandson for several years so he could attend school in Honolulu while their daughter and her second husband lived overseas. Madelyn Dunham, who took university classes but to her chagrin never earned a degree, nonetheless rose from a secretarial job at the Bank of Hawaii to become one of the state's first female bank vice presidents. After retirement, [Dunham and her husband] would take island cruises and do little but play bridge and a more difficult version called duplicate bridge.’
Those ‘several years’ that Obama was raised by his Grandmother were from age 10 to 18, or the entirety of his adolescence. I took the following from the Yale/New Haven Teachers Institute site, which makes a lot of sense to me:
‘Adolescent maturation is a personal phase of development where children have to establish their own beliefs, values, and what they want to accomplish out of life…the self-evaluation process leads to the beginning of long-range goal setting, emotional and social independence, and the making of a mature adult. ‘Three distinct stages can be identified in the psychological development of the adolescent…During early adolescence (ages 11-13), development usually centers around developing a new self-image due to their physiological changes... During [the period known as mid-adolescence, ages 14 and 15] the adolescent battles over his own set of values versus the set established by parents and other adult figures…During late adolescence (ages range from sixteen on), adolescents have a more stable sense of their identity and place in society.'
What is not written here is the impact of key adults on successful development. For me (apparently like the rest of us), this period was among the most formative of my life. The physiological and psychological changes were coming fast and furious and the universe around me was expanding. My grandmother Mary, who passed just a few years ago, was there for me day-in and day-out and was a stabilizing force my turbulent world. There are very few people had as much of an impact on me as she did.
Mary Bundschu was born in 1920 and Madeleine Dunham in 1922, and both were raised in small rural towns (Pomona, CA and Agusta, KS, respectively). Both were married young to men who joined the army, and they both moved to their husband’s place of work. By all accounts they both were very strong and smart women and they both loved bridge. They also clearly had profound impact on their grandsons.
I don’t know Barack Obama, but I can empathize with his loss. I imagine that with this long portion of his profound journey nearly over, and being done with virtually all he can do, he can’t help but reflect on his life so far; As a politician, a father, a husband, and a grandson. I have to believe in those moments he is proud, awestruck, incredibly thankful, and, when he lets himself be, sad for the loss of a guiding force.
