Michelle and Barack Obama led a chorus of politicians and celebrities in paying tribute to her late mother, Marian Robinson.
Ms Robinson, known as the “first grandma” or “grandma in residence” during former president Obama’s time in office, died on Friday at the age of 86, according to a statement from her family.
“My mom Marian Robinson was my rock, always there for whatever I needed,” wrote Michelle Obama on Friday evening. “She was the same steady backstop for our entire family, and we are heartbroken to share she passed away today.”
Barack Obama also said: “There was and will be only one Marian Robinson. In our sadness, we are lifted up by the extraordinary gift of her life. And we will spend the rest of ours trying to live up to her example.”
A statement jointly posted on Medium by the Obamas and the Robinsons described how she had supported them through the turbulent years of his rise to power, and had taken some “nudging” to leave Chicago and move in with them when he became president.
“The trappings and glamour of the White House were never a great fit for Marian Robinson,” the couple wrote. “’Just show me how to work the washing machine and I’m good,‘ she’d say.’”
Tennis champion star and LGBT+ pioneer Billie Jean King expressed her “deepest condolences”, recalling a happy time she had spent with Ms Robinson during the US Open tennis competition in 2013.
Comedian and TV host Loni Love also paid tribute, calling her “always classy, kind, and beautiful”, while Oscars diversity activist April Reign posted: “RIP”.
Viola Davis, the actress and film producer known for her starring roles in 2011’s The Help and the ABC TV show How to Get Away With Murder, wrote on Instagram: “What a quiet, powerful force you were.
“Your legacy is in what you planted: your belief that the children you bring into the world are already who they’re meant to be. Rest well, Mrs Robinson. ‘May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest’.”
Other tributes came from New York congressman Adriano Espaillat, political strategist Shermichael Singleton, and Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson.
The Obamas’ statement went on to explain her sense of humor during her eight years with them in the White House.
“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. The only guest she made a point of asking to meet was the Pope.
“Over those eight years, she made great friends with the ushers and butlers, the folks who make the White House a home. She’d often sneak outside the gates to buy greeting cards at CVS, and sometimes another customer might recognize her. ‘You look like Michelle’s mother,’ they’d say. She’d smile and reply, ‘Oh, I get that a lot.’”
Marian Lois Shields Robinson was born in 1937, one of seven children raised in what the Obamas described as “a tiny upstairs apartment on the red-lined South Side of Chicago”.
While she was growing up, she watched her parents struggle with racial segregation. Her father, Purnell Shields, was unable to join a union or work for certain construction firms because of the color of his skin.
As an adult, Ms Robinson studied to be a teacher and later worked as a secretary, married Fraser Robinson and had two children, Craig and Michelle.
The Obamas described Ms Robinson as a steadfast source of support and encouragement, including when Michelle “married a guy crazy enough to go into politics.”
“At every step, as our families went down paths none of us could have predicted, she remained our refuge from the storm, keeping our feet on solid ground,” the family wrote. “On election night in 2008, when the news broke that Barack would soon shoulder the weight of the world, she was there, holding his hand.”
At the White House, Ms Robinson was always careful to retain her own separate space, reportedly staying away from the administration’s nerve centre in the West Wing and living in an apartment on a different floor to the Obamas.
Nevertheless, she frequently accompanied the couple to official events such as Christmas carol singing, as well as diplomatic visits to the UK, South Africa, and China – where she shook hands with Chinese president Xi Jinping and visited the Forbidden City.
After the end of Mr Obama’s presidency in 2017, Ms Robinson moved back to Chicago and spent time travelling and “reconnecting with longtime friends”.
The statement said that she died peacefully.