http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/11/18/tribute_to_obamas_grandmother.htmlBy Garance Franke-Ruta
About 200 people turned out Friday in Honolulu for a public tribute to Barack Obama's grandmother Madelyn Dunham, who passed away at the age of 86 on the eve of his election as president.
Neither President-elect Obama nor his sister, Maya Soetero-Ng, attended the event, which was sponsored by the bank where Dunham was a vice president. They contributed a letter that the bank chairman and CEO, Al Landon, read.
"This was not a family memorial or a funeral service. It was a public goodbye tribute hosted by people she worked with in Hawaii," an Obama transition official said of the ceremony, held at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. "There will be a private ceremony for the family at a time to be determined that the Obama family will attend."