Dotty was born about 20 blocks from the famous Wanamaker's department store in Philadelphia where the first big Mother's Day celebration was held in the United States. Dotty is 94 years old this Mother's day and will soon be 95....
By Bob DeMarco
Alzheimer's Reading Room
May, 2011
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| Anna Marie Jarvis |
Mother's Day was first established in the United States by Anna Marie Jarvis, following the death of her mother Ann Jarvis on May 9, 1905. She had the help of Philadelphia merchant John Wanamaker.
The first official Mother's day took place in 1908. It was celebrated in Andrew's Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia where Anna's mother had been teaching Sunday school. It was also celebrated on a larger scale in a large auditorium at the famous Wanamaker's store in Philadelphia. Wanamaker's was one of the first department stores in the United States.
Mother's Day became a recognized holiday on May 8, 1914.
Ironically, Anna Jarvis became an opponent of Mother's Day because she believed it had become too impersonal and too commercialized. She actually spent her entire fortune fighting the commercialization of Mother's Day. She preferred a personal letter to the "greeting card".
Anna Jarvis was arrested in 1948 for disturbing the peace while protesting against the commercialization of Mother's Day, and she was quoted as saying,
she wished she would have never started the day because it became so out of control.
The sale of greeting cards for Mother's Day ranks third, behind Christmas and Valentine's day.
Happy Mother's Day from Dotty and Bob.
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