Columnist Susan Snyder: A day of celebration is grand

Friday, Sept. 5, 2003 | 5:12 a.m.

It's National Grandparents Day.

Have you called yours?

I would, but it would take a psychic (No, don't offer). All of mine were born in the late 19th century, between 1888 and 1900.

Grover Cleveland "Cleve" Snyder was a Michigan farmer who died when I was about 3. My only memory of him is toddling along at his heels, piling old corn cobs in a tiny wooden wagon he built.

Wendell Phillips was a city fellow from Detroit who passed on when I was 14. He always promised me a quarter if I could sit still for five minutes without saying anything.

Never got the quarter.

Not much to remember, but such bits and pieces are part of what West Virginia's Marian McQuade had in mind when she started campaigning for a national grandparents holiday in 1970.

She wanted to set aside a day for people to honor their grandparents and recall moments shared with older people, according to information from the National Grandparents Day Council.

West Virginia recognized its first grandparents holiday in 1973. President Jimmy Carter signed the proclamation naming National Grandparents Day the first Sunday after Labor Day in 1978.

Twenty-five years later the day has grown to one honoring more than one's own aging kin. It offers a golden opportunity to help children recognize the value in connecting with older people, many of whom lead solitary lives, the council says.

It also ought to offer grandparents a day of rest. Recent U.S. Census figures show an increasing number are raising their grandchildren.

An estimated 5.7 million of America's older adults live with their grandkids, while 2.4 million of them are providing the children such basic needs as food, shelter and clothing. And 1.4 million of those are doing this while holding down jobs, census figures show.

In fact, nearly 20 percent of men older than 65 and 10 percent of women the same age were working when the 2000 Census was conducted. Still, nearly 12 percent of the women and 7 percent of the men in that same age group live in poverty, the figures show.

These issues likely won't change as more of us become grandparents or the age of grandparents. The National Institute on Aging says a whopping 800,000 people are added each month to the world's population of people 65 and older.

Dang. AARP's computer could blow up -- but maybe not soon. The United States ranked 32nd on the list of countries with older folks. Italy was oldest.

We can only hope it's the red wine.

Inside our borders, the Silver State attracts the most silver-haired residents. A census report released in August says 114 of every 1,000 people who move to Nevada are 65 or older. Good news for Arizona Charlie's bingo hall.

Bad news for restaurants offering senior discounts. Research shows we're likely to have a lot of years to take advantage of price breaks. Our average life span has increased to 77 years, which means a fair number of us will be around even longer.

Live carefully. There's no telling what younger people will remember about you.

A weathered wood wagon and unrequited quarter aren't much, but they stuck.