Stanley Armour Dunham facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Stanley Armour Dunham
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|---|---|
| Born | March 23, 1918 Wichita, Kansas, U.S. |
| Died | February 8, 1992 (aged 73) Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S. |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
| Service/ |
 United States Army |
| Years of service | 1942–1945 |
| Rank |  Sergeant |
| Unit | 1830th Ordnance Supply and Maintenance Company Third Army |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Relations | Stanley Ann Dunham (daughter) Barack Obama (grandson) |
| Other work | Salesman |
Stanley Armour Dunham (March 23, 1918 – February 8, 1992) was the grandfather of Barack Obama. Barack Obama later became the 44th president of the United States. Stanley and his wife, Madelyn Payne Dunham, raised Obama from the age of 10. They lived together in Honolulu, Hawaii.
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Stanley's Early Life
Stanley Dunham was born in Wichita, Kansas. He was the younger of two sons. His parents were Ralph Waldo Emerson Dunham, Sr. and Ruth Lucille Armour. His family's ancestors had settled in Kansas back in the 1840s.
When Stanley was young, his father placed him and his older brother in the care of their grandparents. They lived in El Dorado, Kansas. As a teenager, Stanley was quite rebellious. He even spent some time traveling by hopping on trains across the country. He married Madelyn Lee Payne on May 5, 1940. This was the night of her high school senior prom!
Serving in World War II
Stanley Dunham joined the U.S. Army on January 18, 1942. He served in Europe during World War II. His unit was the 1830th Ordnance Supply and Maintenance Company. This group helped support the 9th Air Force during the war.
Stanley and his brother were sent to France six weeks after D-Day. D-Day was a very important invasion during the war. Before the Invasion of Normandy, the brothers even met by accident in London. Stanley was looking for food when he found his brother staying at a hotel.
While Stanley was serving, his wife Madelyn gave birth to their daughter, Stanley Ann Dunham. She was born on November 29, 1942, in Wichita. During the war, Madelyn worked in Wichita. She helped build Boeing B-29 airplanes.
Life After the War
Stanley Dunham was discharged from the U.S. Army on August 30, 1945. After the war, his family moved to Berkeley, California. Stanley wanted to study at the University of California, Berkeley. Later, they moved back to El Dorado, Kansas. There, Stanley managed a furniture store.
In 1955, the Dunhams moved to Seattle, Washington. Stanley worked as a salesman for a furniture company. Their daughter, Ann, went to middle school there. The family lived in an apartment in the Wedgwood Estates. In 1956, they moved to Mercer Island, a suburb of Seattle. Ann attended high school there and graduated in 1960. In 1957, Stanley started working for another furniture company.
Moving to Hawaii
The family then moved to Honolulu, Hawaii. Stanley found an even better job opportunity at a furniture store. His wife, Madelyn, started working at the Bank of Hawaii in 1960. She was later promoted in 1970. She became one of the bank's first female vice presidents.
In his book, Dreams From My Father, Barack Obama wrote about his grandfather. He said, "One of my earliest memories is of sitting on my grandfather's shoulders." This was when astronauts from an Apollo mission arrived at Hickam Air Force Base.
When Barack Obama was 10 years old, he moved in with his grandparents in Honolulu. He came to attend school in the U.S. His mother and stepfather were living in Jakarta, Indonesia at the time. His mother later returned to Hawaii for her studies. But when she went back to Indonesia in 1977, Obama stayed in the United States with his grandparents. Obama wrote in his book that he had an "unspoken pact" with them. He could live with them, and they would leave him alone, as long as he stayed out of trouble.
Stanley's Passing
Stanley Dunham passed away in Honolulu, Hawaii, on February 8, 1992. He is buried at the Punchbowl National Cemetery.
Stanley's Family Tree
Stanley Dunham was a direct descendant of Jonathan Singletary Dunham. Jonathan was an important early American settler. He left the Plymouth Colony to build the first gristmill in New Jersey.
Stanley's most recent European ancestor was Falmouth Kearney. He was a farmer from Ireland. He came to America during the Great Irish Famine. He settled in Indiana. Falmouth's youngest daughter, Mary Ann, was Stanley's grandmother on his father's side.
Stanley Dunham had many distant cousins who became famous. Six U.S. presidents were his distant cousins. These include James Madison, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush. And of course, his own grandson, Barack Obama, also became president!
Through a shared ancestor named Mareen Duvall, Stanley was related to former Vice-President Dick Cheney. Mareen Duvall was a wealthy merchant who moved to Maryland in the 1650s. Stanley was also a distant cousin of President Harry S. Truman and even Wild Bill Hickok.
