Michelle Obama’s mother, Marian Robinson, dies at age 86

By Darlene Superville | Related Press

WASHINGTON — Marian Shields Robinson, the mom of Michelle Obama who moved with the primary household to the White Home when son-in-law Barack Obama was elected president, has died. She was 86.

Mrs. Robinson’s dying was introduced by Michelle Obama and different relations in a press release that stated “there was and will likely be just one Marian Robinson. In our disappointment, we’re lifted up by the extraordinary reward of her life.”

She was a widow and lifelong Chicago resident when she moved to the chief mansion in 2009 to assist take care of granddaughters Malia and Sasha. In her early 70s, Mrs. Robinson initially resisted the thought of beginning over in Washington, and Michelle Obama needed to enlist her brother, Craig, to assist persuade their mom to maneuver.

“There have been many good and legitimate causes that Michelle raised with me, not the least of which was the chance to proceed spending time with my granddaughters, Malia and Sasha, and to help in giving them a way of normalcy that could be a precedence for each of their dad and mom, as has been from the time Barack started his political profession,” Mrs. Robinson wrote within the foreword to “A Sport of Character,” a memoir by her son, previously the pinnacle males’s basketball coach at Oregon State College.

“My feeling, nevertheless, was that I might go to periodically with out truly transferring in and nonetheless be there for the ladies,” she stated.

Mrs. Robinson wrote that her son understood why she needed to remain in Chicago however nonetheless used a line of reasoning on her that she typically used on him and his sister. He requested her to see the transfer as an opportunity to develop and take a look at one thing new. As a compromise, she agreed to maneuver, at the very least briefly.

Granddaughters Malia and Sasha had been simply 10 and seven, respectively, when the White Home grew to become dwelling in 2009. In Chicago, Mrs. Robinson had develop into virtually a surrogate guardian to the ladies throughout the 2008 presidential marketing campaign. She retired from her job as a financial institution secretary to assist shuttle them round.

On the White Home, Mrs. Robinson supplied a reassuring presence for the ladies as their dad and mom settled into their new roles, and her lack of Secret Service safety made it attainable for her to accompany them to and from college each day with out fanfare.

“I might not be who I’m immediately with out the regular hand and unconditional love of my mom, Marian Shields Robinson,” Michelle Obama wrote in her 2018 memoir, “Changing into.” “She has all the time been my rock, permitting me the liberty to be who I’m, whereas by no means permitting my ft to get too far off the bottom. Her boundless love for my women, and her willingness to place our wants earlier than her personal, gave me the consolation and confidence to enterprise out into the world realizing they had been secure and cherished at dwelling.”

Mrs. Robinson gave a number of media interviews however by no means to White Home press. Aides guarded her privateness, and, as outcome, she loved a degree of anonymity overtly envied by the president and first girl. It allowed her to return and go from the White Home as typically as she happy on buying runs round city, to the president’s field on the Kennedy Heart and for journeys to Las Vegas or to go to her different grandchildren in Portland, Oregon.

She attended some White Home occasions, together with live shows, the annual Easter Egg Roll and Nationwide Christmas Tree lighting, and a few state dinners.

White Home residency additionally opened up the world to Mrs. Robinson, who had been a widow for almost 20 years when she moved to a room on the third flooring of the White Home, one flooring above the primary household. She had by no means traveled outdoors the U.S. till she moved to Washington.

Her first flight overseas was aboard Air Drive One in 2009 when the Obamas visited France. She joined the Obamas on a visit to Russia, Italy and Ghana later that 12 months, throughout which she bought to satisfy Pope Benedict, tour Rome’s historical Colosseum and think about a former slave-holding compound on the African coast. She additionally accompanied her daughter and granddaughters on two abroad journeys with out the president: to South Africa and Botswana in 2011, and China in 2014.