The History of Father's Day

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, and 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 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 Memory of My Father

My father always knew what to say,
How to offer me comfort,
How to encourage me,
To coax me to go run and play.

He always seemed to know the places,
For finding fresh blackberries,
Where crawl daddies might be found,
For young and eager freckled faces.

When he sang with his deep voice,
It was a breath of fresh country air,
A creek running clear and clean,
But it was never by willful choice.

He sang to calm the flowing tears,
To entertain children on Christmas Eve,
To teach us what he had been taught,
A legacy lasting through many years.

My father always knew what to say,
Spreading laughter and love,
Making us feel important to the world,
I will always remember him that way.

©Dianna Doles Petry
July 25, 2007

Quotes About Fathers

"I cannot think of any need in childhood as strong as the need for a father's protection."
-- Sigmund Freud

"If the new American father feels bewildered and even defeated, let him take comfort from the fact that whatever he does in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right."
-- Bill Cosby

"I watched a small man with thick calluses on both hands work fifteen and sixteen hours a day. I saw him once literally bleed from the bottoms of his feet, a man who came here uneducated, alone, unable to speak the language, who taught me all I needed to know about faith and hard work by the simple eloquence of his example."
-- Mario Cuomo

This is the modern day version of what every father would love to do on Father's Day. I couldn't resist this including this. We all make jokes, but we love these wonderful men who are there for his wife and children.

The modern man has so many more issues with which to deal. Children have all these new and wonderful toys that can lead to such complications. Daddy works so hard to protect his precious children only to realize there is only so much he can do when they sign up with MySpace or FaceBook. Life is much more complicated.

Fathers are wonderful men who need just as much love and understanding as the rest of us. May every father have a wonderful life spent with his children. Every day should be Father's Day.

Shekinah created and maintained by Lady Elizabeth
Web set designed by Moon and Back Graphics
Shekinah is hosted by Elysium Gates