Do you know the story behind Mother’s Day? The “mother of Mother’s Day,” Anne Jarvis, dedicated her life to humanitarian work and anti-Civil War campaigns. She lived in West Virginia in a bi-partisan town ravaged by war. Poor health and sanitation conditions led to many deaths. She was the mother of 11 children – only 4 survived to adulthood.
Tired of watching children die, Jarvis called together women from local towns as volunteer medical assistants. The Mother’s Day Work Club, as she would call it, assisted families with tuberculosis and provided medicine for the poor and sanitary milk for children. Local towns soon prospered.
Jarvis led several peace movements, and was a dedicated Sunday school teacher and gifted public speaker. When she died, her daughter suggested to their pastor that they celebrate a Mother’s Day in her honor.
In 1908, the first official Mother’s Day service was held at Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. Word spread about Mother’s Day, and soon many communities were celebrating moms. By 1914, President Woodrow Wilson appointed the day a national holiday, designating the second Sunday in May as the official “Mother’s Day.”
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