She is the reason we have Mother's Day.
Anna's mother had desired to establish a holiday to honor mothers. After the death of Anna's mother, she led the push for honoring mothers on a special day.
On May 10, 1908, three years after her mother's death, Anna Jarvis celebrated mothers during a worship service at St. Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton, West Virginia. Although Jarvis did not attend this service, she sent a telegram describing the significance of the day and sent 500 white carnations to all who attended the service. She explained why she selected white carnations:
Its whiteness is to symbolize the truth, purity and broad-charity of mother love; its fragrance, her memory, and her prayers. The carnation does not drop its petals, but hugs them to its heart as it dies, and so, too, mothers hug their children to their hearts, their mother love never dying. When I selected this flower, I was remembering my mother's bed of white pinks.
She later spoke in Philadelphia at the Wanamaker's Store Auditorium where her speech moved the audience.
Jarvis continued to refer to her mother's memory and attempted to maintain the sentimental part of what they day meant and her role as the founder of the holiday. She struggled with the popularity of Mother's Day and the forces of commercialization that took over her original message. Floral and greeting card companies began to capitalize on the day she had founded. As the years passed, Jarvis grew disenchanted with the growing commercialization of the observation and even attempted to have Mother's Day rescinded. Jarvis died of heart failure in a sanitarium in November 1948, her medical bills paid by people in the floral and greeting card industries.
