Grandmother Love

Barack Obama told us about his Grandmother, now let's tell him about ours! Join Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and people from throughout the country and share a story about your Grandmother with President Obama and the First Family.

Express your Grandmother Love

Have you seen the bust of Barack Obama and his Grandmother at the Peace Abbey? The bronze statue by Georgian sculptor Lado Goudjabidze poignantly brings to life the strong bond of love that bound these two together. During his campaign Obama told us about his relationship with Grandmother, the love he felt for her and how she influenced him as he grew to be the outstanding man he is today. Now, through the new program Grandmother Love, we Americans have the opportunity to tell Obama and his family about our Grandmothers.

Everyone has a Grandmother story. Whether you see your Grandmother every day, once a week, on holidays only, or if she is deceased or you have never met her - you have a story to tell.

Project Grandmother Love invites you to tell your story by means of an essay, a letter, a poem or even a drawing. Stories will be collected countrywide from people of all ages - from children who are just learning to print to elders whose handwriting may wobble a bit. All stories will be bound into a large book entitled Grandmother Love. The book and bust of Obama and his Grandmother will be presented to the Obama family as a gift from the American people.

Join the project! Write your Grandmother story in your own handwriting on an 8 1/2 X 11 sheet of paper. Also be sure to provide a typed copy as well.

(Written by Ann Bekebrede of the Sherborn Council on Aging.)

Written by Christopher Randa (Pictured with Grandmother Love Book)

President Obama told the American people about the importance of his Grandmother in his life's journey. Now it is our turn. Please submit your entry to be included in the book Grandmother Love -- a collection of stories, reflections and letters about the importance and influence of the grandmother(s) in your life.

Once filled, the book will be a gift to President Obama and the First Family along with the bronze statue (see photo) that has been commissioned of him with his late grandmother, Madelyn Dunham. The statue was sculpted by world acclaimed artists Lado and Shake Goudjabidze. All submissions must follow these guidelines:
1) All submissions must be both typed and handwritten. (Your handwriting personalizes your submission.)
2) We encourage submissions to be unique and creative. Some entries have come in the form of letters to grandmothers that are no longer with us, heart-warming/humorous stories, artwork, poems, etc.
3) All submissions must be displayed on only one side of 8 ½" x 11" page(s).
4) Photographs and other two dimensional inclusions are welcome, but will not be returned. Send a copy if original is of personal value.
5) Submissions should be mailed to The Life Experience School , 2 North Main Street, Sherborn, MA 01770.

Grandmother Love is a project of the Life Experience School for special needs children and young adults.

By Dr. Tian Dayton
November 8, 2008

It seems such a heartbreaking reality that Barack Obama's grandmother was not able to live the seventy two hours that would have allowed her to witness the child she loved, the child she stood by, become President of the United States. But at the same time, the strange timing of her death underlines what a grandmother's love is really meant to do; which is to prepare a child for a world that she may never lay eyes on. To plant enough faith in the goodness of life in his heart, so that he will dare to dream. To plant enough love in his little being to nourish and sustain him long after she is gone.

A grandmother's love is meant to prepare a child for a world, a moment in time that she may never set foot in. That is perhaps why it is so selfless and profound. A grandmother's love prepares a child's character to match a time in history that she may never be a part of. Perhaps that is why it has the power to motivate a grandchild to reach so far beyond her, beyond even himself, because they are reaching for two, for many. A grandmother's love is meant, from the beginning, to plant a legacy for family members of future generations that she will never meet. Perhaps that is why her love, vision and prayers have the authority and ability to travel through time and impact the future, because they are, by necessity, based on blind faith.

In a time when the bonds of family are often undervalued and the impact that a grandmother's love can have on a child's future is not always valued or understood, Barack Obama's grandmother stands as a symbol of what a grandmother's love can really mean and accomplish. It can change the world.


The sculptor, Lado Goudjabidze was born in the Republic of Georgia (in the former USSR)
in 1945, Lado V. Goudjabidze graduated from the College of Visual Arts in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1965. He married the former Shake Abajian, an artist as well, in 1968. Together, they are working on what may well become a sculpture that gives voice to the memories of our grandmothers.