Cindi Mason, director of the International Mother's Day Shrine, poses at the shrine in Grafton, W. Va., on April 22. The shrine is the former Andrew's Methodist Church where the first Mother's Day service was held 100 years ago. Former Grafton resident Anna Jarvis started the holiday. (AP Photo)

GRAFTON, W.Va. (AP) — On this 100th anniversary of Mother’s Day, the woman credited with creating one of the world’s most celebrated holidays probably wouldn’t be pleased with all the flowers, candy or gifts.


Anna Jarvis would want us to give mothers a white carnation — she felt it signified the purity of a mother’s love.


Jarvis, who never married and never had children, got the Mother’s Day idea after her mother said it would be nice if someone created a memorial to mothers.


Three years after her mother died in 1905, she organized the first official mother’s day service at a church where her mother had spent more than 20 years teaching Sunday school.


Today, the former Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church is the official shrine to mothers around the world.