HONOLULU, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama, his family and close friends honored Obama's grandmother in a memorial service then scattered her ashes into the ocean.
After the memorial for Madelyn Dunham, who helped raise Obama and who died two days before the Nov. 4 election, family and some friends scattered Dunham's ashes into the Pacific Ocean from an overlook, The Honolulu Advertiser reported. The Lanai Lookout was the spot where Obama scattered the ashes of his mother after her death in 1995.
News reporters traveling with Obama weren't allowed to attend the service or when Obama scattered his grandmother's ashes.
Dunham and her husband, Stanley Dunham, raised Obama in their two-bedroom apartment while his mother traveled and pursued graduate studies in Indonesia with his sister.
During his campaign, Obama frequently referred to his grandmother, whom he called "Toot" for the Hawaiian word for grandmother, tutu, and the life lessons she taught him.
