Robinson’s loved ones expressed deep gratitude for the 86-year-old as they released their statement on Friday.

“We needed her. The girls needed her. And she ended up being our rock through it all,” the family said. “She relished her role as a grandmother. … And although she enforced whatever household rules we’d set for bedtime, watching TV, or eating candy, she made clear that she sided with her ‘grandbabies’ in thinking that their parents were too darn strict.”

In her interview with CBS This Morning, Robinson said it was a “huge adjustment” for her when she moved into the White House because she’s used to doing everything for herself. The Chicago native said she had to convince the White House residence staff to let her wash her own clothes.

In their statement on Friday, the family said their loved always stayed humble.

“Rather than hobnobbing with Oscar winners or Nobel laureates, she preferred spending her time upstairs with a TV tray, in the room outside her bedroom with big windows that looked out at the Washington Monument,” the family stated. “The only guest she made a point of asking to meet was the Pope.”

Marian Robinson

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