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'I was just so in shock': Washington woman's photos headed to Obama Presidential Center

Megan Dascher-Watkins found photos of the former president's mother among her late mother's belongings.

STANWOOD, Wash. — Megan Dascher-Watkins was going through her late mother's belongings last year when she came upon some photos that caught her eye.

"This is pretty cool," she said.

She found photos of Stanley Ann Dunham -- better known as the mother of former President Barack Obama.

"She's the Obama mama," she quipped. "I was just so in shock and fangirling over the whole thing."

Dunham attended Mercer Island High School with Dascher-Watkins' mom. They graduated in 1960.

Dascher-Watkins remembers her mother talking about Dunham during the Obama administration.

She said they would go on sleepovers and campouts together as teenagers.

When she found the pictures, she had just one thing in mind.

"I wanted to make sure President Obama and his family had these," she said.

Last February, Dascher-Watkins talked with KING 5 about her discovery. Somehow, word must have gotten to the Obama people because this month, she got an email from the Obama Presidential Center.

"At first, I wanted to make sure it wasn't one of my friends or family cracking a joke on me," she said.

The center's registrar was asking if Dascher-Watkins would mail him the photos to display at the Obama Center in Chicago.

"How often do you have someone from a presidential library contact you and want to have part of your family's history included in it?" Dascher-Watkins said. "I was thrilled!"

For Dascher-Watkins, it's a privilege to have her family artifacts on display at the center, but what matters most is knowing that her mother's memory will live on as part of presidential history.

"She would be so honored and thrilled to be able to donate this to the library of such a significant and important person in history," Dascher-Watkins said. "It makes me so happy to know that my mom's name is going to be a part of this."

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