Father's Day

Today is the Father's Day Centennial Celebration. Father's Day was originated through the efforts of Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington. When Sonora was 16 years old, her mother died in childbirth with her sixth child.  Her father was a Civil War veteran and was left alone to raise the family of six children. Sonora was the only daughter and shared with her father in the raising of her five younger brothers. After listening to a church sermon in 1909 about the newly recognized Mother's Day, Dodd felt strongly that fatherhood needed recognition as well. She wanted a celebration that honored fathers like her own father. The first observance of Father's Day is believed to have been held on June 19, 1910.

Officially reorganization of Father’s day went through a difficult route for decades. Until 1966, President Lyndon Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Six years later, it was made a permanent national holiday when President Richard Nixon signed it into law in 1972. It is also celebrated in more than 55 countries.

Sonora Smart Dodd died in 1978 at the age of 96. She was buried in Greenwood Memorial Terrace, Spokane Washington, USA.

A father has a special relationship with his daughter as he wants to protect her by instinct as soon as she comes to this world, while she will judge all men by his standard.

Happy Father’s Day to all fathers, step-fathers, fathers-in-laws, godfathers and everyone who plays the role of a father.