The Beginning of Fathers Day

Others say it was launched in Spokane, Washington, in June, 1910, by a Mrs. John Bruce Dodd. Mrs. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. William Smart, a Civil War veteran, 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. It was after Mrs. Dodd became an adult that she realized the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent.

The first Father's Day was observed on June 19, 1910, in Spokane Washington. At about the same time in various towns and cities across America other people were beginning to celebrate a "father's day." In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father's Day. Finally, in 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the third Sunday of June as Father's Day.

Many Catholics call St. Joseph's Day, on March 19, Father's Day, because Joseph was the father of Jesus. But most people celebrate a more modern version of Father's Day.

Father's Day has become a day to not only honor your father, but all men who act as a father figure. Stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, and adult male friends all play a part in fathering, and thus they deserve to be honoured on Father's Day.