With a desire to honor those fathers who had
a passed, she asked her local church to dedicate a
day to honor fathers.
The celebration however did not spread to a
wider audience. Though Fairmont was named the
birthplace of Father’s Day, it was across the country
in Spokane, Washington 2 years later where Sonora
Smart Dodd heard a Mother’s Day sermon and
proposed the idea for a celebration for fathers by the
local churches. Dodd’s mother had died in childbirth,
and she and her 5 siblings had been raised by her
father. She wanted fathers to be celebrated just as
mothers were.
Slowly, celebrations began to spread through the
churches in the United States over the next 50
years. While local celebrations were held around the
country, it wasn’t until 1972 that President Richard
Nixon made it a federal holiday. Now celebrated in
many countries around the world, Father’s Day is
seen as a day of gift-giving, but let us remember
the origin of this celebration. Let us remember the
two women, one with a heart for the fatherless and
one who was motherless, and the reasons behind
their proposals to honor fathers. Let us remember
those fathers whose lives were lost in the mine and
all fathers who have gone on and all of the children
they’ve left behind. Let us celebrate the fathers
still with us, not by digging into our pockets, but by
opening up our hearts in gratitude.
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