Former first lady Michelle Obama’s mother, Marian Robinson, died Friday at age 86, according to a family statement.
“We will all miss her so much and wish she were here to give us some perspective and soothe our heavy hearts with her laughter and wisdom,” the statement read.
The family noted in a statement that she lived in the White House with them during former President Obama’s tenure, but that “the glitz and glamour” was “never a good fit” for her.
“We needed her. Our daughters needed her,” the family said in a statement. “And she was there for us through it all. She enjoyed being a grandmother to Malia and Sasha.”
“‘I’ll be fine if you just show me how to use the washing machine,'” she said, the statement added. “Rather than fraternizing with Oscar and Nobel Prize winners, she preferred to hang out upstairs with her TV tray in a room with a view of the Washington Monument from the large window outside her bedroom.”
Robinson, a lifelong Chicago resident, rarely spoke to reporters but attended a number of White House events. The Associated Press reported..
According to the Associated Press, she was one of seven children, attended two years of teachers college, married in 1960, and became a stay-at-home mom to her daughter and son, Craig. She was also a strong advocate for education.
Her husband, Fraser Robinson, who died in 1991, was a pump operator for the Chicago Water Department.
First Lady Michelle Obama congratulated Robinson in a Mother’s Day post on social platform X earlier this month, saying she has “always had my back and I am so grateful for all that she continues to do for our family.”
“My mother has taught me so much over the years, and I feel so lucky to be able to impart that same wisdom to my own daughters,” she says. She wrote in her postShe posted a photo of herself and her mother, saying: “To all the moms celebrating today, I want you to know how much you are appreciated.”
In March 2022, the former first lady revealed that the Obama Presidential Center would feature a section honoring her mother. The Chicago center’s area would include scaled-down replicas of the White House’s East Room, Blue Room, and South Lawn.
