WILMINGTON , Delaware ( CNN ) -- Sen. Joe Biden was always in charge when he was a boy , his younger sister said . Not because he bullied the other kids , but because he appealed to their `` better angels . '' Joe Biden greets supporters at a rally in Battle Creek , Michigan , on August 31 . `` He was always the guy who led the pack , and it was n't because he stood up and pounded his chest and said , ' C'mon and follow me , ' '' his sister , Valerie Biden Owens , said . `` The kids just naturally followed him . '' Owens , who is three years younger than the 65-year-old vice presidential candidate , said she was her brother 's sidekick when the two grew up in their Scranton , Pennsylvania , neighborhood with their brother and sister . `` I opened my eyes , and he was there , '' she said . `` He always taught that I could stretch . He encouraged me to achieve and try things that I would never have tried before , '' she said . Biden `` was the kid who brought all the kids into the pack '' and was a boy `` who did the right thing , and did the right thing by other kids , '' Owens said . Watch Biden revealed in documentary » . `` He was always the fearless leader ... and he 's always , you know , [ saying ] , 'It 's your turn . Now , you . Try it again . You can do it . Go ahead , ' '' she said . Owens said her older brother always tried to make kids feel part of the group because he knew what it felt like to feel excluded . One kid in high school called him `` Dash Biden '' because he stuttered and it took him a long time to pronounce his name , Owens said . `` A fierce determination that he was not going to allow an imperfection to hold him back , '' drove him to overcome the stuttering , she said . `` There are not excuses so he had to figure out a way to overcome it , '' Owens said . `` He practiced , and he used to take verses from Emerson and Yeats and he would memorize them . '' Watch how Biden overcame his stutter » . Stuttering would not be the last -- or even the greatest -- challenge Biden would face in his life . Shortly after he was elected to the Senate in 1972 at age 29 , Biden 's first wife , Nealia , and a daughter , Naomi , were killed in a car accident . His sons , Beau and Hunter , survived the crash , and Biden took the Amtrak train from Washington to Wilmington , Delaware , daily to take care of them . After the accident , Biden was `` devastated -- his world was gone , '' Owens said . But Biden `` put one foot in front of the other '' and made sure he took care of his children , she said . `` I think that 's why he connects with people , '' she said . `` As my dad said , 'It 's not how you get knocked down , it 's how quickly you get back up . ' '' Follow a timeline of Biden 's career » . In 1977 , Biden married his second wife , Jill , who Owens said `` put my brother 's life back together . '' `` She not only married my brother , she married the state of Delaware . She married the Biden family , '' Owens said . `` And the whole time [ she ] has kept her perspective and her feet grounded . She 's a remarkable woman . '' Now , Owens said , Biden 's ability to unite people and appeal `` to the better instinct in human nature '' -- the same traits he showed when he was a boy in Scranton -- are why he is a good running mate for Sen. Barack Obama , the Democratic presidential nominee . `` He never would have signed on and agreed to run with Sen. Obama unless he thought he could make a difference , unless he believed in Sen. Obama and where he wanted to lead the country , '' she said . `` They share the same values . They share the same vision . ''
In childhood , other kids followed Biden , VP nominee 's sister recalls . Big brother encouraged her to achieve and try new things , she says . Stutter gave Joe Biden empathy for the excluded , sister says . Biden and Obama 'share the same vision , ' Valerie Biden Owens says .