May 9, 1931

Evelyn Marks sent me a rayon nitie, little pipi, a birdie you wind up and a card. Irene Weber a pillow which has on it “Mother Dear – God took the sunshine from the skies and made the lovelight in your eyes; from honeyed flowers, he took the dew, and made your tears unselfish, true; from a rock your faith he built, with angel prayers your breath he filled, and with his Love made yours divine, but best of all he made you mine.” Many love verses I’ve read on the cards from my children which I take in to my heart with all these meanings and the Love they had in sending them.

May 10, 1931

My girl Frances Dalin and her son Honor and Daughter Shirley also my son Christie came home Sun. afternoon, and Oh! I was so happy. Brot a beautiful bouquet from Fran. Grandma Dalin and her brother Erik came also. We had lunch and all this time I was waiting for a token of Mother’s day from Christie. So any way they went home and on going to bed I found a box of candy from Christie to his Mother. Oh it was a happy day.

Notes

The first Mother’s Day observances were organized by Anna Jarvis in her hometown of Grafton, West Virginia – inspired by the death of her own mother in 1905. The second Sunday in May was eventually set aside as the official “Mother’s Day” holiday by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914.

When the holiday became a commercial success, however, Anna spent much of the rest of her life organizing boycotts and threatening lawsuits.

Click here for an interesting National Geographic article on the subject written by Brian Handwerk in 2014.