Today is Grandparents Day. Nothing beats being a grandparent, unless it’s having daughters.
Grandparents Day is the first Sunday after Labor Day. About 4 million people send cards, and many families like to get together to celebrate on the special day.
National Grandparents Day has more than one origin. Some people consider it to have been first proposed by Michael Goldgar in the 1970s after he visited his aunt in an Atlanta nursing home. Spending $11,000 in lobbying efforts to have the day officially recognized, he made 17 trips to Washington, D.C., over a seven-year period to meet with legislators.
Others consider Marian Lucille Herndon McQuade, a housewife in West Virginia, to have been the main driver for Grandparents Day. Throughout the 1970s, McQuade worked to educate people about the important contributions senior citizens make.
National Grandparents Day was signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1978.
