Grandparents Day September 9, 2012

                                                                     Christine Stamp

We Grandparents have a special day set aside for us because of one
woman, Marian Lucille Herndon McQuade. She was mother of 15,
Grandmother of 43, and great-grandmother of 15. On September 26, 2008
Mrs. McQuade passed away at the age of 91.

Mrs. McQuade was a passionate advocate for senior rights. She
campaigned tirelessly in 1970 to have a special day set aside just for
Grandparents. Between 1970 and 1978 she campaigned in all the 49
lower states for each state to adopt a resolution to proclaim a
special say for Grandparents. She was rewarded for her efforts in 1978
when the United States Congress passed legislation proclaiming the
first Sunday after Labor Day to be National Grandparents Day and
President Jimmy Carter signed it into law.  September was chosen to
signify the “autumn years of life”.

The Grandparents Day proclamation reads as follows: “Grandparents are
our continuing tie to the near-past, to events and beliefs and
experiences that so strongly affect our lives and the world around us.
Whether they are our own or surrogate grandparents who fill some of
the gaps in our mobile society, our senior generation also provides
our society a link to our national heritage and traditions.”

So this Sunday, September 9, 2012 as you celebrate one of the greatest
events in your life of being a grandparent, say a little thank you to
Mrs. McQuade. I know that we’re supposed to receive cards and phone
calls from our grandchildren, but I look at it a bit differently, I’m
so thankful for those four little shining faces that I will be
giving them a call to let them know how honored I feel to be their
grandmother.