Michael S. Green/AP
Now you might think Anna Jarvis was a florist or a greeting-card writer, but it turns out she was neither. After her mother’s death in 1905, Jarvis conceived of Mother’s Day as a way of honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children. But you are not wrong if the cynic in you thinks of the commercial angle. Jarvis picked up financial support for her idea from John Wanamaker and in May 1908 organized the first official Mother’s Day celebration at a church in Grafton, West Virginia.