a quiet hero passes

^ Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, Barack Obama's maternal grandparents, being affectionate during World War II.

On Eve of Election, Obama Pays Tribute to Grandmother Who Died in Hawaii | The New York Times

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Madelyn Dunham, who watched from afar as her only grandson rapidly ascended the ranks of American politics to the brink of the presidency, did not live to see whether he was elected.

Mrs. Dunham, 86, Senator Barack Obama’s grandmother, died late Sunday evening in Hawaii after battling cancer, which Mr. Obama announced upon arriving here on Monday for a campaign stop on the eve of Election Day.

“She has gone home,” Mr. Obama said, his voice tinged with emotion as he briefly spoke of her death at a campaign rally here. “She died peacefully in her sleep with my sister at her side, so there’s great joy instead of tears.”

“She was one of those quiet heroes that we have all across America,” Mr. Obama said. “They're not famous. [Their] names are not in the newspapers, but each and every day they work hard. They aren’t seeking the limelight. All they try to do is just do the right thing. In this crowd there are a lot of quiet heroes like that.”

I had tears in my eyes when I found out earlier today. Dad was just like that, a quiet type of hero who just wanted good things for his kids. When he died, for me it was both sad and profoundly beautiful, my remembrance, my tears, my heartache and knowing smile being a celebration of him. I cried not so much out of grief but out of sheer awe of the richness of such a devoted and selfless parent. Both he and Nanay ('Mom' in Tagalog), like Mrs. Dunham, are those kind of human beings that do that to you, walking comfort food, their hearts so huge and so pregnant with love that you can't help surrendering to them and forgetting whatever misunderstandings and misgivings you have about the world.

I imagine that when it's Nanay's turn I'll be just as beautifully lifted emotionally and spiritually. One of the most magnificent things any of us could ever feel. Grief, passage, love, joy, ecstasy, fullness, celebration, and gratitude, all converging into an almost unbearable intensity from the inside out. This is what it ultimately is to be human.