Most of us have, or have had, father-like role models in our lives. Those who still have their dads are quite fortunate, while the rest of us strive to find the same type of love, guidance and nurturing from stepfathers, uncles, older cousins, grandfathers, teachers, neighbors and family friends. I have been blessed to have had a wonderful father, two fabulous stepfathers, a half-dozen uncles, caring older male family friends and other men who have shared their fatherly wisdom with me.
With this Sunday being Father’s Day, I thought I would fill you in on some of the information I discovered on the Internet regarding the history of Father’s Day. Although I don’t have much faith in some website information, the details regarding Father’s Day that I found at usa.gov>American Holidays, the official website of the Federal government of the United States, I believe, has more credibility than most. Feel free to share it with your family on Sunday.
In June of every year, we honor fathers. The first Mother’s Day was celebrated in 1914, but a holiday honoring fathers did not become official until 1966, when President Lyndon Johnson declared that the third Sunday in June would be Father’s Day. President Richard Nixon made this proclamation permanent in 1972. But this doesn’t mean that the holiday was not celebrated before this time.
The idea for Father’s Day is attributed to Sonora Dodd, who was raised by her father after her mother’s death during childbirth. While listening to a sermon at church on Mother’s Day, she thought about all her father had done for her and her siblings and decided fathers should have a day too. Because Dodd’s father was born in June, she encouraged churches in her area— Spokane, Washington— to honor fathers that month. The first Father’s Day was celebrated in Spokane in 1910.
Over the years, the idea spread, and people lobbied Congress to establish the holiday. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson, who had signed a proclamation establishing Mother’s Day, approved the idea but never signed a proclamation for it. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge made it a national event to “establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations.”
I wish a happy Father’s Day to all the men who have positively influenced those young people who have so desperately needed their love and guidance. May your day be filled with love and sweet memories.
