Happy Father's Day to all you dads

By Katherine Miller

THE POST SIGNAL

CROWLEY – Sonora Smart Dodd first proposed the idea of a “father’s day” in 1909. She wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart, who was widowed when his wife died in childbirth with 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. Mrs. Dodd realized through her adulthood, the strength and selflessness her father had displayed as a single parent.

Many people laughed at Dodd’s idea of a Father’s Day because traditionally, the mother was regarded as the sole nurturer of the child. Dodd’s presented idea caused people to think twice, as they came to the realization that a father’s love is equally important.

Children depend on their fathers for spiritual, emotional, physical, financial and social well being. For daughters, dad is the ideal man in the world, and for sons, dad is an idol that they strive to imitate.

The official first Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910 in Dodd’s hometown of Spokane, Washington. In the year 1924, President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father’s Day, and 42 years later, President Lyndon Johnson signed a proclamation declaring the third Sunday of June as Father’s Day.

This holiday has become extremely important as it acknowledges the contributions of dads both to individual families as well as to society as a whole.

Father’s Day, has, within the past few decades, become a day to honor not only your father, but all men who act as a father figure, such as stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, etc.

Mark Twain summed up the relationship between a boy and his father perfectly when he said, “When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years.”

To all the fathers out there reading this, I would like to wish you a very Happy Father’s Day.