Stanley ann dunham parents

1. Biography of Stanley Ann Dunham
2. Education and Marriage
3. Separation and Remarriage
4. Career and Later Life

Biography of Stanley Ann Dunham

Stanley Ann Dunham was born in Wichita, Kansas to Madelyn Lee Payne and Stanley Armour Dunham. Her parents were originally from Kansas and got married in Wichita. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Stanley Dunham enlisted in the army and Madelyn Payne worked at an aircraft factory. Due to her unusual name, which was given by her father who had always wanted a son, Dunham faced teasing from other children. However, she eventually got used to it. In college, she started going by her middle name, Ann. After World War II, the Dunham family moved from Wichita to California, where Stanley Dunham attended the University of California, Berkeley. In 1948, the family moved to Ponca City, Oklahoma, then to Vernon, Texas, and finally to El Dorado, Kansas. In 1955, they relocated again, this time to Seattle, Washington.

Education and Marriage

Dunham attended Mercer Island High School in Seattle, where she learned to challenge authority and not blindly conform to societal norms. Her classmates remembered her as being more mature than her peers. In August 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state, and Dunham's family believed that it would be easier to start a business there, so they moved to Hawaii. Dunham enrolled at the University of Hawaii, where she met Barack Obama Sr., the first African student at the university. They got married on February 2, 1961, despite objections from both sets of parents. Dunham was already three months pregnant at the time. Soon after their marriage, Obama Sr. revealed to Dunham that he was already married in Kenya but claimed to have divorced his first wife. On August 4, 1961, Dunham gave birth to their first son, Barack Obama II.

Separation and Remarriage

Dunham pursued her education at the University of Washington while raising her son. In 1964, she filed for divorce from Barack Obama Sr. and obtained it. Dunham returned to university to study anthropology, with support from her parents who helped take care of her son. In 1971, Obama Sr. visited his son for the last time. In March 1965, Dunham remarried an Indonesian man named Lolo Soetoro and moved to Jakarta. They had a daughter together named Maya Kassandra Soetoro on August 15. Dunham continued to educate her son, who studied through correspondence courses and listened to recordings of Mahalia Jackson and speeches by Martin Luther King Jr. Eventually, Dunham decided to send her son to the United States for better education. In 1972, Dunham and Soetoro divorced, and she returned to Hawaii with her son.

Career and Later Life

Dunham worked in various jobs in Indonesia and maintained a good relationship with her ex-husbands. In 1992, she earned a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Hawaii, focusing on the problems of peasant blacksmithing in Indonesia. She later pursued a career in agriculture, helping rural women and providing credit through Indonesian banks and international charitable associations. In late 1994, Dunham fell ill while in Indonesia and was diagnosed with stage IV uterine and ovarian cancer. She returned to Hawaii, where she passed away on November 7, 1995, at the age of 52. Her body was cremated, and her son scattered her ashes over the Pacific Ocean. Barack Obama later mentioned his mother's death in a campaign advertisement for healthcare reform, emphasizing her worry about medical bills and battles with insurance companies.