Michelle Obama's Mom Marian Robinson Dead at 86 - Read the Family's Statement

justjared.com:

Michelle Obama has announced the passing of her mother Marian Robinson. The former “First Grandmother of the United States” died on Friday (May 31) at the age of 86. Michelle and her family confirmed the news in a lengthy statement. “She passed peacefully this morning, and right now, none of us are quite sure how exactly we’ll move on without her,” they wrote. “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.” Marian lived with the Obamas at the White House during his eight years in office, helping care for granddaughters Sasha and Malia. Head inside to read the full statement… You can read the family’s full statement below… Marian Lois Shields Robinson — our mother, mother-in-law, and grandmother — had a way of summing up the truths about life in a word or two, maybe a quick phrase that made everyone around her stop and think.

Her wisdom came off as almost innate, as something she was born with, but in reality it was hard-earned, fashioned by her deep understanding that the world’s roughest edges could always be sanded down with a little grace.

Don’t sweat the small stuff. Know what’s truly precious. As a parent, you’re not raising babies — you’re raising little people.

Don’t worry about whether anybody else likes you. Come home. We’ll always like you here. She grew up one of seven children on the red-lined South Side of Chicago, the daughter of Purnell Shields and Rebecca Jumper.