National Grandparents Day

This day exists because one remarkable woman refused to let it not exist. Marian McQuade was a coal miner’s wife living in West Virginia, a mother of fifteen children and grandmother of forty-three grandchildren, who began a campaign in 1970 to set aside a special day honoring grandparents. Her motivation was tender and specific: she wanted to champion the cause of lonely elderly people in nursing homes, and she hoped to persuade grandchildren to tap into the wisdom and heritage their grandparents could provide. What started as one woman’s letter-writing campaign became a movement that would reach the White House.

McQuade’s campaign gained its first real traction in 1973, when Senator Jennings Randolph of West Virginia introduced a resolution in the U.S. Senate to make Grandparents Day a national holiday. When that resolution died in committee, McQuade did not give up. She organized supporters and began contacting governors, senators, and congressmen in all fifty states, urging each state to proclaim its own Grandparents Day. Her efforts were indefatigable. Within three years she had collected Grandparents Day proclamations from forty-three states, and she sent copies of every one to Senator Randolph as proof the nation was ready.

In February 1977, Senator Randolph, with the concurrence of many other senators, introduced a joint resolution asking the president to issue an annual proclamation designating the first Sunday of September after Labor Day as National Grandparents Day. Congress passed the legislation, and on August 3, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation into being. The statute set out the day’s purpose plainly: to honor grandparents, to give grandparents an opportunity to show love for their children’s children, and to help children become aware of the strength, information, and guidance older people can offer. “Just as a nation learns and is strengthened by its history,” Carter said at the signing, “so a family learns and is strengthened by its understanding of preceding generations.”

The day has its own gentle symbols and traditions. The official flower of National Grandparents Day is the forget-me-not, a small spring bloom whose very name is a promise to remember. Families mark the day in ways both simple and profound: a long phone call, a visit with a home-cooked meal, grandchildren asking for the story of how grandma and grandpa met, one more time. Some families frame old photographs. Others record the stories, knowing that the voice telling them is the real treasure. McQuade herself continued to champion senior causes for the rest of her life, serving on West Virginia’s Commission on Aging and its Nursing Home Licensing Board, and on the tenth anniversary of the day, the Postal Service issued a commemorative envelope bearing her likeness.

Today’s grandparents would be almost unrecognizable to the generation McQuade first set out to honor. They are hikers and travelers, video-call regulars and social media pros, coaches from the sidelines and helpers with homework over the phone. What has not changed is the role at the center of it all: the keepers of family stories, the givers of unconditional love, the people who have seen enough of life to know what truly matters. On September 12, 2027, the calendar gives us all a nudge to tell them what they mean to us, while we can, and to listen while they tell us who we are.

The numbers tell a story of devotion that McQuade would have recognized. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, some 7.3 million grandparents had grandchildren under the age of eighteen living with them, and about 2.6 million grandparents were responsible for the basic needs of one or more of those grandchildren, with grandmothers outnumbering grandfathers among those caregivers. Millions more provide daily childcare, school pickups, bedtime stories, and the kind of steady presence that holds busy families together. They are, in every real sense, the backbone of American family life. National Grandparents Day exists so that once a year, we stop and say what we feel every day: thank you for everything, and we love you.

The day also reaches beyond individual families to the wider community of older Americans McQuade cared about most. Nursing homes and assisted living communities often mark the day with visits, music, and shared meals, welcoming grandchildren and volunteers through their doors. Schools invite grandparents to read to classes or share their life stories with students. Libraries host story hours and memory projects. These gatherings honor McQuade’s original wish in the most fitting way possible: by making sure no elder spends the day feeling forgotten. A holiday that began as one woman’s mission to comfort lonely seniors has become a national reminder that every older person deserves to be seen, thanked, and celebrated.

THE STORY BEHIND NATIONAL GRANDPARENTS DAY

👩 A Mother of Fifteen Had a Dream
In 1970, Marian McQuade of West Virginia, a mother of fifteen and grandmother of forty-three, began a campaign for a day honoring grandparents. Her chief motivation was to champion lonely elderly people in nursing homes and to persuade grandchildren to tap the wisdom and heritage their grandparents could provide.

✉ Letters to Fifty States
After an early Senate resolution died in committee, McQuade organized supporters and wrote to governors, senators, and congressmen in all fifty states. Within three years she had collected Grandparents Day proclamations from forty-three states and sent copies to Senator Jennings Randolph.

🏛 Congress Acts
In February 1977, Senator Randolph introduced a joint resolution for the first Sunday after Labor Day as National Grandparents Day. Congress passed it, and on August 3, 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation, declaring: “Just as a nation learns and is strengthened by its history, so a family learns and is strengthened by its understanding of preceding generations.”

🌸 The Forget-Me-Not
The official flower of National Grandparents Day is the forget-me-not, a small bloom whose name is itself a promise. Seasonal flowers are given in appreciation to grandparents on this day, a living reminder not to forget the ones who came before.

📖 A Legacy in an Envelope
McQuade kept working on senior causes for the rest of her life, serving on West Virginia’s Commission on Aging and Nursing Home Licensing Board. On the tenth anniversary of Grandparents Day, the Postal Service issued a commemorative envelope bearing her likeness.

WAYS TO CELEBRATE

📞 Call, Visit, or Video Chat
On September 12, give your grandparents the gift of your time and attention. A long phone call, a visit with a home-cooked meal, or a video chat with the grandkids means more than any present you could buy.

📖 Ask for the Stories
Sit down and ask for the family stories: how they met, what the world looked like when they were young, the lessons they learned the hard way. Record them if you can. Their memories are your heritage.

🌸 Give Forget-Me-Nots
Honor the day’s official flower by giving your grandparents forget-me-nots or another seasonal bloom. It is a small gesture with a big message: you are remembered, and you are loved.

Celebrate National Grandparents Day

On September 12, 2027, honor the grandparents in your life and the ones who live on in memory. Call them, visit them, thank them, and listen. Their stories are your story, and this is the day to hear them.