Father’s Day
By Michelene K. Bell

It is believed that the very first known Father’s Day card happened more than 4,000 years ago when a young Babylonian named Elmesu carved a card in clay and presented it to his father. His special message — good health and a long life.

Father’s Day, like Mother’s Day, was believed to have started in the United States around 1908. It was then that a Dr. Robert Webb of West Virginia is thought to have conducted the first Father’s Day service at the Central Church of Fairmont.

However, the idea of Father’s Day was attributed more to the efforts of Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington. While she listened to a Mother’s Day sermon in 1909, Dodd birth the idea of honoring her father, William Jackson Smart, a Civil War veteran, who was left with six children to raise when his wife died in childbirth. What was amazing is the fact that this took place in the1800’s when it was unheard of for a man to raise six children alone. He was actually a single parent for 21 years and he never did remarry.

In 1910 Sonora Dodd began encouraging local churches in the area to institute a Father’s Day observance on a Sunday in June, the month of her father’s birthday. Many churches responded and eventually the celebration of Father’s Day grew and spread to other cities, states and countries. A milestone for Sonora was when the mayor of Spokane became involved and proclaimed June 19th as Father’s Day. Among some of the traditions for Father’s Day was the wearing of a red rose for fathers still living and a white rose to honor fathers who had died.

Journey To A National Holiday

Sonora began the task of getting father’s recognized nationwide by submitting a petition to President Calvin Coolidge in 1924. Coolidge agreed with Mrs. Dodd and in 1926, a National Father’s Day Committee was formed in New York City. Many congressional resolutions proclaiming a national Father’s Day in the United States were introduced down through the years.

The first presidential proclamation honoring fathers nationwide was issued by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1966. Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day.

However, not until 1972 did a Joint Resolution of Congress present a bill to President Richard Nixon on giving recognition to Father’s Day. He officially made the third Sunday of June as the permanent national observance day for Father’s Day which has been celebrated ever since. Many other countries celebrate on other dates.

Side Note:

The Summer Solstice became associated with the Feast of Saint John the Baptist and was celebrated by the ritual act of bathing in streams, rivers or the ocean. This custom, which carried into the Earth 20th Century America, was eventually replaced with a new holiday called “Father’s Day” which was first celebrated in 1908. The third Sunday in June is the date held sacred to the Sun and close to the Summer Solstice…the time of the Sun’s peak power.

FATHER’S DAY FUN FACTS

• There is an estimated 64.3 million fathers across the nation.

• This year, more than 70% of Americans plan to celebrate or acknowledge Father’s Day.

• Father’s Day is the fourth-largest card-sending occasion with 95 million Father’s Day cards expected to be given this year just in the United States (does not include e-cards!).

• A “serious card” comes in second only to the humorous cards given on Father’s Day.

• Half of Father’s Day greeting cards go to dads of all ages and nearly 20% are given to husbands.

• In addition to cards and gifts, Father’s Day celebrations often include telephone calls, family meals, the great outdoor bar-b-que, gatherings, special activities and e-cards.

• One of the most popular gift is the “tie”. Other items high on the list are tools such as hammers, wrenches, screwdrivers, fishing rods and golf clubs.

• Stay-at-home dads in 2006 was estimated at 159,000.

• An estimated 26.5 million fathers are part of married-couple families with children younger than 18 in 2006.

• Fathers raising three or more children under 18 averages 22 percent (married-couple family households only).

• Single fathers in 2006 was 2.5 million, which is up from 400,000 in 1970. Currently, among single parents living with their children, 19 percent are men.

www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/011778.HTML

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