Grandparents Day is a very auspicious day to remember
our grandparents and cherish their love for the whole family.
Grandparents Day was not invented merely to sell cards and gifts on the
holiday. The day is, perhaps, the outcome of efforts at the grass root
level. Marian McQuade, a homemaker in Fayette County, West Virginia, is
credited with the foundation of National Grandparents Day. The first
Grandparents Day was celebrated in 1978. Read on to know more about the
history of Grandparents Day.
In 1970, Marian McQuade started a campaign to dedicate a special day
for grandparents. She aimed at educating the youth about the important
contributions of senior citizens to the society, and to encourage the
grand children inherit the wisdom and heritage from their grandparents.
She wanted the youth to pay attention to the elderly people dwelling in
nursing homes. Apart from McQuade herself, civic, business, church, and
political leaders took concerted efforts to make the campaign a
statewide success.
In 1973, West Virginia became the first State to set aside a special
day for grandparents, when Governor Arch Moore of West Virginia declared
the first Grandparents Day in that year. Senator Jennings Randolph
followed this by introducing a resolution in the United States Senate
for the establishment of National Grandparents Day. However, the
resolution was languished in the committee. In 1978, former US President
Jimmy Carter proclaimed the first Sunday after Labor Day as the National
Grandparents Day in the United States.
Marian McQuade and her husband headed a very big family tree, which
consists of 15 children, 43 grandchildren, and 10 great-grandchildren.
After 60 years of a happy married life, Joe McQuade, her husband, passed
away in March 2001. He was the behind-the-scene support for Marian and
helped her out of the way in all her efforts, hard work, persuasion, and
unending persistence towards making Grandparents Day a national
commemoration in the United States.
