WILMINGTON, Del. -- Vice President Joe Biden remembers his mother as a comfort, a defender and a teacher of American values.
Jean Biden died Friday after falling ill in recent days. She was 92.
In a statement, the vice president said she died in Wilmington surrounded by her family and loved ones.
Joe Biden says his parents taught their children equality, honor and "the dignity of hard work."
In his autobiography, he recalled his mother defending him when a nun chided him for his stutter.
He says his mother told the nun she would "come back and rip that bonnet off" her head if the nun ever spoke to her son like that again.
The vice president says that when his wife and daughter died in a car crash, his mother told him that "God sends no cross that you cannot bear."
Jean Biden had a daughter and two other sons.
She also had 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
