A Day For Honoring Our Fathers

Every third Sunday of June, we in America and many across the globe honor our fathers with a special day. But have you ever wondered how this very special holiday came to be celebrated?

The Fathers' Day we celebrate today is attributed to a young woman named Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington, who held her own father in high esteem. She was inspired to remember her father with a special day while listening to a church sermon about the newly established Mothers' Day celebration, in 1909. She encouraged local establishments to observe such a day the following year, and the first Fathers' Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910.

Mrs. Dodd's father William Jackson Smart, a widower, managed to raise six young children on his own on a remote farm in Washington after his wife passed away during the birth of their youngest son. Having recently become a parent herself, Dodd had come to realize how devoted and selfless her father had been raising her and her siblings. She chose the month of June as a special remembrance of her own father, as his birthday was on the 5th of June.

President Calvin Coolidge gave his support to the concept of a national Father's Day in 1924. President Lyndon Johnson signed a proclamation in 1966 to recognize the third Sunday of June as Fathers' Day. However, it wasn't until 1972 when President Richard Nixon signed it into law, that it officially became a national holiday.

Today, Fathers' Day has become a day to honor dads everywhere; Fathers, Stepfathers, Uncles, Grandfathers and all men who act as a father figure.