Happy Grandparents Day September 13, 2020

Honoring Grandparents Today

Grandparents Day is always celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day each year.

Surprisingly, this holiday was not created by the greeting card industry. Instead it was the brainchild of a real-life mother and grandmother, Marian Lucille Herndon McQuade of West Virginia. 

Marian Lucille Herndon McQuade definitely qualified as an expert on family. McQuade was mother to:

• . 15 children
• . 43 grandchildren
• . 10 great-grandchildren and
• . 1 great-great-grandchild at her death.

McQuade was arguably an expert on grandparenthood.

The first presidential proclamation of Grandparents Day was by Jimmy Carter in 1979.

Here are the three purposes of National Grandparents Day:

1. To honor grandparents. 
2. To give grandparents an opportunity to show love for their children's children.
3. To help children become aware of the strength, information and guidance older people can offer.

The above photo is of my grandparents, Beryl and Emma Brown, with my brother Lance Carr and I, on a visit to the Redwoods at Henry Coe State Park in Felton, Calif. circa 1970.  

The side photo is of my husband Steve Crowe's beloved grandmother and family matriarch "Mama Denney" (in pink) surrounded by extended family during a visit to her house in Honolulu, Hawaii circa 2000-2001.

To anyone blessed with currently living grandparent: today please honor, celebrate and spend time with those loved ones on Grandparents Day.

Images courtesy and copyright of author's collection.

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