Fathers Day is June 18th, How It Began

Father's Day is a day of commemoration and celebration of Dad. It is a day to not only honor your father, but all men who have acted as a father figure in your life - whether as Stepfathers, Uncles, Grandfathers, or "Big Brothers." They all have their favorite chair.

While listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909. Sonora Dodd, of Washington, first had the idea of a "father's day. Sonora wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. Smart, who was a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his wife died while giving birth to their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state.

After Sonora became an adult she realized the selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent. It was her father that made all the parental sacrifices and was, in the eyes of his daughter, a courageous, selfless, and loving man. Sonora's father was born in June, so she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on June 19, 1910.

President Calvin Coolidge, in 1924, supported the idea of a national Father's Day. Then in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day. President Richard Nixon signed the law which finally made it permanent in 1972 Each year we celebrate by giving gifts and floral bouquets to our fathers, men who have acted as a father figure in your life - whether as Stepfathers, Uncles, Grandfathers, or "Big Brothers, or special friends."

"Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father!"
-- Lydia M. Child