About National Mother-in-Law Day
According to several articles and recollections about the lesser-known mother-inspired holiday, things got started in 1934. That was when the editor of the Amarillo Globe-News, Gene Howe, published an article that drew the ire of his mother-in-law.
His mother-in-law, and mothers-in-law across the city, complained enough that it inspired Gene to apologize.
By way of an apology, Howe organized a city-wide event that eventually became a holiday, known as Mother-In-Law Day.
The event came to national prominence when Will Rogers mentioned it on his radio show. Camera crews showed up to record the odd event. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, supposedly, even sent her regards.
In the following years, the event was repeated and Mother-In-Law Day kept growing to the point that governors declared it a state holiday on several occasions. On the fifth anniversary, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt came to be in the parade herself.
Over 125,000 attended the parade, whose route ran for 10 miles. There was even a giant float carrying around 500 mothers-in-laws.
Eventually, a Mother-In-Law Day committee was established to choose the yearly honorees. In the 1970s, the American Society of Florists got involved. They're the ones who decided that Mother-In-Law Day would be celebrated on the fourth Sunday of October every year.
