My father was a man of few words....a gentle caring man full of love and gratitude for his family. In so many ways, he showed me what real love looked like. He was tenderhearted yet strong in his convictions and his faith.

From the earliest days of my childhood, Dad always had a beautiful rose garden….and as an adult when I returned home for visits, there would be fresh roses in my room and bathroom….my favorites being the Peace Rose (pink & cream) and the Tropicana Rose (orange). Dad is now gone from his earthly garden but dances in the great Rose Garden of Eternity.

Father's Day is a day honoring fathers, celebrated on the third Sunday of June in 52 countries of the world and on other days elsewhere. It complements Mother’s Day, the day of celebrating and honoring mothers.

Sonora Smart Dodd, of Washington, first proposed the idea of a "father's day" in 1909 while listening to a Mother’s Day sermon in her church. Mrs. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart, a Civil War veteran who was widowed when his wife died in childbirth with their sixth child. Mr. Smart then raised the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington State. It was after Mrs. Dodd became an adult that she realized the courage, strength and selflessness her father had shown in lovingly raising his children as a single parent.

The first Father's Day was observed as a tribute on June 19, 1910 in Spokane, Washington. It took many years to make the holiday official. In spite of support from the YMCA, the YWCA and churches, it ran the risk of disappearing from the calendar.

Where Mother's Day was met with enthusiasm, Father's Day was met with laughter. The holiday was gathering attention slowly, but for the wrong reasons. It was the target of much satire and ridicule with jokes in the local newspapers.

A bill was introduced in 1913 (in the United States) and in 1924 President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father's Day. Finally in1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as 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 in male parenting. Stepfathers, uncles, grandfathers, godfathers and adult male friends are all honored as the greatest men in our lives on Father's Day.

It was a day born in memory and gratitude by a daughter who thought that her father should be honored with a special day just like we honor our mothers on Mother’s Day.

“Any man can be a Father….but it takes a special person to be a Dad.”
~ Old Proverb

In Gratitude for all our special “Fathers”….

Linda Kay Holden
New Beginnings Community