Obama speaks fondly of isles, ‘tough as nails’ grandmother

With the first family wrapping up their vacation in Kailua this week, I thought I’d write about President Barack Obama growing up in Hono­lulu.

Many doubted a Hawaii son would ever be president of the United States. Thirty years ago Don Ho would tell audiences that the time had come. He volunteered for the job. He’d move the White House to Hawaii and call it the Ho House, he’d joke.

Don Ho didn’t know that a young man growing up on Oahu at that very moment would one day occupy the Oval Office.

Barack Hussein Obama Jr. was born in Hono­lulu on Aug. 4, 1961, at Kapiolani Maternity & Gynecological Hospital. His parents, a white mother from Kansas and a black Muslim father from Kenya, had met while both were attending a Rus­sian-language class at the University of Hawaii.

His mother was named Stanley Ann Dunham because her father wanted a son. Her family had moved to Hawaii in 1960, after she graduated from high school. When Barry was just 3, his parents divorced and his father returned to Kenya.

Three years later Anna (as she liked to be called) Dunham married Lolo Soe­toro, whom she had met at the University of Hawaii East-West Center. He found a job as a manager for Mobil Oil, and the family moved to Jakarta, Indonesia. Barack’s half sister, Maya, would be born there.

Barack Obama called his mother "the dominant figure in my formative years. The values she taught me continue to be my touchstone when it comes to how I go about the world of politics."

In 1971, 10-year old Barry was sent to Hawaii to be raised by his maternal grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, and grandfather, Stanley.

Obama joined Punahou School in the fifth grade. Joella Edwards, who now lives in Florida, recalls the first time she saw him. "I remember thinking, ‘Wow, there’s another black person here.’ I was ‘the lonely only’ until he came." Fewer than 2 percent of Hawaii residents are black.

Obama joined the Punahou basketball team and was on the 1979 state championship team.

Manoa resident Sam Cooke remembers Obama visiting his home in the 1970s. "My oldest daughter brought a number of friends from Punahou over for a tea party.

"Included in the group was a black young man with a large afro who was in her class. He introduced himself as Barry Obama. I had no idea that one day he would be president of the United States. I have a picture of them in my living room."

Obama often refers to Hawaii in his books and occasionally in his speeches and interviews.

He has said that "no place else could have provided me with the environment, the climate, in which I could not only grow, but also get a sense of being loved."

"There is no doubt that the residue of Hawaii will always stay with me and that it is a part of my core, and that what’s best in me, and what’s best in my message, is consistent with the traditions of Hawaii."

"Hawaii is not perfect," Obama continued, "but I do think it was more tolerant and accommodating of diverse cultures than the mainland was."

"I think that spirit helped to shape my attitudes toward people. And if you’re in a school that has Chinese kids, Fili­pino kids, Japa­nese kids, white kids and Samoan kids, by necessity I think you’re forced to learn to empathize with people who aren’t like you."

In Hawaii we call our grandmothers and elder female relatives "tutu." Barry and his sister Maya modified that, calling their grandmother "Toot."

Obama described his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, as "quiet yet firm … a trailblazer of sorts, the first woman vice president of a local bank." Her colleagues at Bank of Hawaii recall her as a tough boss who appreciated hard work.

"She was the opposite of a dreamer, at least by the time I knew her," Obama continued. "Whether that was always the case or whether she scaled back her dreams as time went on and learned to deal with certain disappointments is not entirely clear. But she was just a very tough, sensible, no-nonsense person."

"She never got a college education, but is one of the smartest people I know. She’s where I get my practical streak. That part of me that’s hardheaded, I get from her. She was tough as nails."

Toot was "a woman who helped raise me, a woman who sacrificed again and again for me, a woman who loved me as much as she loved anything in this world. She was the cornerstone of our family and a woman of extraordinary accomplishment, strength and humility."

"She was one of those quiet heroes that we have all across America. 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."

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Bob Sigall, author of the “Companies We Keep” books, looks through his collection of old photos to tell stories each Friday of Hawaii people, places and companies. Email him at Sigall@Yahoo.com.