Maria Robinson, Michelle Obama’s mother, died early Friday morning.
She was 86 years old.
Robinson’s family said in a statement that he died peacefully.
“As a mother, she was our backstop, a calm and nonjudgmental witness to our triumphs and stumbles,” it said.
“She was always, always there, welcoming us back home no matter how far we had journeyed, with that deep and abiding love.”
Robinson became known as the first grandmother in the US when her son-in-law, Barack Obama, won the presidency in 2008.
Michelle Obama said that her mother was her rock in a different statement.
“Always there for me no matter what,” she wrote on Twitter.
“She was the same steady backstop for our entire family, and we are heartbroken to share she passed away today.”
Robinson was a well-known figure in the White House during both of Obama’s terms, but she didn’t draw too much attention to herself.
While she was traveling abroad, she went to holiday events and concerts in the East Room.
But she mostly spent time with Sasha and Malia, her granddaughters.
“We will all miss her greatly, and we wish she were here to offer us some perspective, to mend our heavy hearts with a laugh and a dose of her wisdom,” read the family’s statement.
“Yet we feel better knowing that she is back in the arms of her loving Fraser, that she has moved her TV tray next to his recliner, and that they are clinking their highball glasses while she tells him stories about this crazy, beautiful ride.” “She’s really missed him.”
Robinson had lived in Chicago her whole life, but she agreed to move to Washington, DC, in 2009 to help take care of her young granddaughters in the White House.
“We had to have her. She was needed by the girls. “She was our rock through it all,” the family wrote in a tribute.
“She relished her role as a grandmother to Malia and Sasha — just as she doted on Avery, Leslie, Austin, and Aaron.”
Robinson was born in 1937 in Chicago and grew up on the South Side of the city. She also raised her two children, Michelle and Craig Robinson, there.
She got married to Fraser C. Robinson III in 1960. He died in 1991 of multiple sclerosis.
Robinson had a big change when he moved from the South Side to the White House. He wasn’t used to being waited on.
At work, she often had to beg people to let her do her own work, like laundry.
“Rather than hobnobbing with Oscar winners or Nobel laureates, she preferred spending her time upstairs with a TV tray, in the room outside her bedroom with big windows that looked out at the Washington Monument,” people said.
“The only guest she made a point of asking to meet was the Pope.”
TRIBUTES THAT EMBRACE
A lot of people wrote tributes to Robinson. Billie Jean King, who won 39 Grand Slams, wrote one.
“Sending our deepest condolences to the Obama family today upon the passing of Marian Robinson, the Former First Lady’s mother,” the writer said.
“I got to spend some time with her alone at the Arthur Ashe Kids Day at the US Open in 2013.”
“May she rest in peace.”
She wrote, “My family sends our love.” We’re so sorry for your loss.”
For some reason, Lin-Manuel Miranda couldn’t look any of you in the eye from the stage when you invited him to perform at the White House in 2009.
“I didn’t feel calm and ready to go until I looked over and saw your mom’s encouraging smile.
They couldn’t believe she wasn’t here. We will pray for you and your family every day and in the coming weeks.
