Why is this day so special?  Why did we start celebrating Father’s Day? There are several different accounts of the origin of Father’s Day. Some credit Mrs. Charles Clayton of West Virginia as the founder of Father’s Day, while others think that Harry C. Meek, president of a Chicago Lions Club, came up with the idea. Most historians agree that the strongest supporter of the creation of a day for children to honor their fathers was Sonora Louise Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington.  She organized a celebration to honor her father who was a Civil War veteran widowed when his wife gave birth to their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and the five other children by himself on a farm in Spokane, Washington.

As an adult, Sonora realized that the selflessness that her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent. She grew up knowing her father as a courageous, selfless and loving man, who made all the parental sacrifices. She wanted her dad to know how special he was to her. 

With the help of the Spokane Ministerial Association and the local Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), the first Father’s Day celebration was held in Spokane, Washington on June 19, 1910. Mrs. Dodd’s father was born in June, so she thought that it was appropriate that the celebration be held during that month. From that time on, the state of Washington celebrated Father’s Day on the third Sunday in June.

By 1924, the idea of a national Father’s Day had the support of the president, Calvin Coolidge, who decided on the third Sunday in June as the day of observation. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a presidential proclamation making it official. Finally, in 1972, President Richard M. Nixon signed Father’s Day into law. In early times, wearing flowers was a traditional way of celebrating Father’s Day. The rose was selected as the flower to be worn during Father’s Day celebrations–red to honor living fathers, white to commemorate those that had passed away.

Father’s Day was born in memory and gratitude of a daughter who thought that her father and all good fathers in the world deserve to be honored in a special day like we honor our mothers on Mother’s Day.

Tags: Happy Father's Day

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