A Brief History of the Fathers Day Holiday:
The creation of a national day for Dads began back in the 1900s
when a grateful daughter wanted to express her deep appreciation for her
own father. A gentleman by the name of William Smart, a civil war veteran,
was widowed when his wife died in childbirth. Mr. Smart raised his six
children on a rural farm in eastern Washington State. When Sonora Louise
Smart Dodd, one of Mr. Smart's children, was grown she wanted to show her
appreciation for her father. He had shown her a great love and strength
in raising her and her siblings as a single parent. So, in 1909, she
proposed a day to honor her father in June (the month of her father's birth).
The very first Fathers' Day was on June 19, 1910 in Spokane, Washington.
In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge showed support of this
becoming a national holiday. However, it wasn't until 1966 when
President Lyndon Johnson officially proclaimed Fathers' Day a national
holiday to be celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of June.
Roses are the Father's Day flowers: red to be worn
for a living father and white if the father has died.
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