Re: Plaque in the park
Some more info
Long before Ernie K. Doe was singing his paean to his own mother-in-law, mothers-in-law by the thousands were gathering in Amarillo, Texas to celebrate their important contributions to the American historical landscape. On March 9, 1938, one of the biggest events in Amarillo's history took place when the city celebrated the fifth annual Mother-In-Law Day with one of the largest parades ever seen in Amarillo. Guests of honor included the President's wife, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Governor James Allred of Texas, Governor Clyde Tingley of New Mexico, Governor E. W. Marland of Oklahoma, Governor Teller Ammons of Colorado, and Governor Walter Huxman of Kansas. Amarillo's population at the time was around 50,000, but an estimated 125,000 people came to view the parade and take part in some of the activities that were planned around the event. Mother-In-Law Day had its beginnings in March 1934 when Gene Howe, editor-publisher of the Amarillo Globe-News, made a disparaging comment in his column, The Tactless Texan, about mothers-in-law, that offended his own mother-in-law, Mrs. Nellie Donald. He promised to make up for it by sponsoring a Mother-In-Law Day and by assuring her, and his readers that no more jokes about mothers-in-law would appear in his column. Old Tack described in his March 5, 1934 column how the event got its start. "The mother-in-law celebration in Amarillo first originated with a flood of tears turned loose by my mother-in-law. I wrote something in the paper that hurt and when I went home that evening I noticed that the other women folks had that funny look on their faces. All you men who have families know what it is. And we set down at the dinner table and there was no mother-in-law. I inquired for her and was told, icily, that she was in her bedroom which was in the back of the house. And I went to her room and I found her stretched across the bed sobbing like a 10-year-old child who had lost her cat or broken her doll or something. I had meant no injury, of course, and I apologized, and then I thought I'd try to make amends by showing that I have real and lasting affection for the wonderful lady who is the pride of our household. I announced that I intended to have a Mother-In-Law Day of my own and for my own family... and it's been stepping out and up ever since". The scene in the photograph depicts a bouquet of 5,000 fresh roses weighing approximately 2,500 pounds that was presented to Mrs. Roosevelt. The bouquet was accompanied by an honor guard of 61 tall Texans selected to protect the bouquet from the many people lining the streets. Each man selected was over six feet tall and weighed 200 pounds or more. The parade was an estimated 10 miles long and included the "world's longest float" shaped like a giant battleship on which "sailed" over 500 mothers-in-law. There was no mention in any of the news articles of the day about any suggested relationship between "battleship" and "mother-in-law".