Posted on 06/14/2002 1:29:39 PM PDT by First_Salute
Sonora Dodd, of Washington, first had the idea of a "father's day." She thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909.
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 fatherhad 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 the 19th of June, 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.
A 42-year gap doesn't quite rate a "Then", IMO. "Finally" is more like it.
OTOH in any sort of traditional Christianity, every Sunday is (even more than the other days of the week) Father's Day. I assert that fact without apology, and point to the difficulties we see when society is not "patriarchal." It takes work and sacrifice to put and hold a family together; celebrating that work and sacrifice is part of what Mother's Day should be about.
Mothers create families before they create children. The honor they confer on their husband is the sine qua non of the fatherhood we tomorrow celebrate (or, as the case may be, are reminded of the loss of).
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