With 14 children, American Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart probably received a lot of Father’s Day presents.
His daughter Sonora Smart Dodd came up with the idea in church in Spokane, Washington, during a Mother’s Day service in 1909.
Her father had been widowed twice and Sonara told the Spokane Daily Chronicle years later: “He was both father and mother to me and my brothers and sisters.”
Petition
The following year Sonora presented a petition to church leaders asking that the courage and devotion of all fathers be recognised every June 5, William’s birthday.
The idea was met with enthusiasm, although they opted for the third Sunday in June instead.
In 1910 that fell on June 19 and churches across Spokane dedicated their services to fathers living or lost and roses were passed out among the congregation.
What a far cry that moving tribute is from the consumerist frenzy we see today and yet the sentiment remains the same.
Sonara would devote the next six decades lobbying to have Father’s Day made a national holiday with small victories along the way.
On Friday October 13, 1913, The New York Times reported that father-of-eight J Hampton Moore, the representative for Philadelphia, had put a Bill before Congress on the matter.
It said that “the first Sunday in June in each and every year hereafter be designated as Father’s Day, upon which as an expression of sentiment corresponding to Mother’s Day, the rose, irrespective of colour, shall be regarded as the emblem”.
Three years later, President Woodrow Wilson celebrated Father’s Day during a visit to Spokane and may even have met William, who lived until 1919.
In 1972, President Richard Nixon finally signed a Congressional resolution declaring the third Sunday in June to be Father’s Day – although by then the idea had already spread to other countries, including the UK.
Sonara died six years later, aged 96, having devoted her entire life to establishing this special day for dads everywhere.
This year it falls on June 19, as did the first Father’s Day in 1910 when roses were passed around in church – perhaps a reminder that love and appreciation are the only gifts that really matter.
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