[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 126 (Thursday, October 7, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1823]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TRIBUTE TO MRS. MARY TOWLES SASSEEN WILSON

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ED WHITFIELD

                              of kentucky

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, October 6, 2004

  Mr. WHITFIELD. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the legacy of Mrs. 
Mary Towles Sasseen Wilson, a distinguished native of Henderson, 
Kentucky, which I have the pleasure of representing in the House. In 
recognizing Mrs. Wilson, we also pay tribute to all mothers in this 
great Nation, as she is responsible in large part for the origination 
of the Mother's Day holiday.
  In 1860, Mrs. Wilson was born Mary Towles Sasseen in western 
Kentucky. She spent most of her life in Henderson as a school teacher. 
Had she never become involved in the development and spread of Mother's 
Day, she still would have been recalled fondly by many western 
Kentuckians as a tireless, caring, and effective educator.
  However, Wilson's story was not to end there. Spurred by the love and 
devotion she felt for her own mother, in 1887 Mary Sasseen held her 
first public Mother's Day celebration at the Center Street School in 
Henderson. In 1893 she published and dedicated to her mother a pamphlet 
entitled Mother's Day Celebration, which defined the holiday and 
suggested readings and activities suitable for its celebration.
  In subsequent years she worked diligently toward the introduction of 
Mother's Day observations at schools and towns in Kentucky and 
elsewhere. When Sasseen attempted in 1899 to become one of the region's 
earliest female elected officials by running for Superintendent of 
Public Instruction, commentary regarding the campaign cited her as 
``the author and originator of Mother's Day.''
  Although Sasseen's attempts to win elective office failed, she 
continued to work for the furtherance of Mother's Day in America. In 
1904 she married Judge William Marshall Wilson and moved to Freeport, 
Florida, which was to be the site of her untimely death in 1906. Less 
than a decade later, in response to the efforts of other notable 
Mother's Day advocates in the tradition of Mrs. Wilson, President 
Woodrow Wilson signed a joint resolution designating the second Sunday 
in May as Mother's Day.
  Mrs. Wilson's efforts were recognized by the Kentucky General 
Assembly in 1926, when it passed a resolution acclaiming Mary Towles 
Sasseen as ``the originator of the idea of the celebration of Mother's 
Day'' and giving her credit for ``her splendid work in attempting to 
bring to the minds of children everywhere the full admiration, respect, 
and love due our mothers.''
  I believe, Mr. Speaker, that these are efforts no less worthy of 
commendation today than when they were first carried out and honored 
over a century ago. It is my distinct pleasure to bring to the 
attention of this House the noteworthy legacy of Mrs. Wilson and all of 
the mothers she worked so hard to honor.

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