Mother’s Day is next Sunday.
Readers are invited to pick up a copy of the Freestone County Times – on newsstands now – for gift ideas from local small businesses.
The modern holiday of Mother’s Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother at St Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. Her campaign to make Mother’s Day a recognized holiday in the United States began in 1905, the year her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died.
In 1908, the U.S. Congress rejected a proposal to make Mother’s Day an official holiday, joking that they would also have to proclaim a “Mother-in-law’s Day”. However, owing to Jarvis’ efforts, by 1911 all U.S. states observed the holiday.
In 1914, Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating Mother’s Day, held on the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honor mothers.
This year, Mother’s Day will be observed on Sunday, May 13th.
