The History of National Grandparents Day
National Grandparents Day has three purposes. It gives honor to the estimated thirty-five million grandparents across the United States. It also gives grandparents a chance to show their love and affection for their grandchildren. And third, this holiday helps to show the younger generations how much wisdom and guidance their elders truly possess.
This relatively new holiday is the brainchild of a West Virginia housewife named Marian Lucille Herndon McQuade. In 1970, Mrs. McQuade began her grassroots campaign to set aside a day every year for Grandparents Day. She enlisted the help of others to contact politicians, civic and business organizations, and churches. Three years later, Mrs. McQuade’s concentrated efforts produced the first “Grandparents Day” in West Virginia when it was proclaimed by Governor Arch Moore. At the same time, Senator Jennings Randolph presented a Grandparents Day resolution to the United States Senate. However, the resolution just sat on the back burner.
Realizing that her dream for a national holiday to honor grandparents was fizzling out, Mrs. McQuade and her team then ramped up their efforts by contacting the media and even more politicians in order to gain worldwide attention. Their efforts paid off five years later in 1978 when the United States Congress passed legislation that declared the first Sunday after Labor Day as being “National Grandparents Day.” The proclamation was signed by then- President Jimmy Carter.
Since then, the West Virginia mother of fifteen children, grandmother of forty, and great grandmother of eight, has spent much of her time traveling around the United States in order to encourage the celebration of the holiday she developed. Mrs. McQuade continues to gain the support of prominent West Virginians by asking them to serve on the Founders Advisory Committee. This committee also encourages the observance of National Grandparents Day.
This holiday wasn’t started as a way for grandparents to receive more flowers or presents. It was started because Mrs. McQuade felt that the elder generation are showered with gifts and attention on Christmas Day, but left ignored the remainder of the calendar year. Therefore, she designed National Grandparents Day to be a time for family. Families are encouraged to join together and maybe even have a reunion. The day can be spent by listening to grandparents tell of their past.
Or, the elders and the youth can share some laughs by playing cards or board games.
The founder of this national holiday also encourages families to pull out old family photographs from the attic. If they are not already, the photos need to be identified and dated before the older generation fades away.
All in all, National Grandparents Day is a celebration of family and life. It’s a time for the younger generations to discover and learn about their past. And who better to tell them about where they came from than their grandparents?
Marian McQuade’s dedication to the senior citizens in the United States has garnered her several awards. She was awarded a citation in 1976 as being one of the 10 West Virginia Women of Accomplishment; she was also honored in 1976 as the Fayette County Person of the Year; 1979 brought her a citation from the West Virginia Federation of Women’s Clubs; she was Whitman Chocolates’ Grandparent of the Year in 1981; and, Mrs. McQuade was named Richwood’s Person of the Year in 1989. Mrs. McQuade’s biggest honor to date was having a tenth anniversary commemorative envelope bearing her likeness issued by the United States Postal Service on September 2, 1989.
