BLOG: Happy Father's Day!

[NateR]

From Matt's blog:

Just wanted to wish a happy Father's Day to all the dads out there. I've always been interested in the origins of our holidays, so I've been reading up on Father's Day a bit today and found some interesting stuff. There are actually different stories about how the holiday got started in the first place. One theory is that the first Father's Day service took place in 1908 at the Central Church of Fairmont in West Virginia and was conducted by Dr. Robert Webb; but the most widely accepted origin takes place one year later, 1909, in Spokane, Washington. Sonora Smart Dodd was inspired to have a special day dedicated to her father, William Jackson Smart, while listening to a Mother's Day sermon at the Central Methodist Episcopal Church. Her dad had raised Sonora and her siblings by himself after her mother died; so she held the first Father's Day celebration on her dad's birthday, June 19th, 1910. Which makes this year the 100 year anniversary of Father's Day; however it wouldn't be recognized by the federal government as a permanent national observance day until 1972, under President Nixon. I just thought that was interesting, so again Happy Father's Day to all you dads out there. -matt

[flo]

Interesting history. Happy Father's Day to all the forum dads!

[NateR]

Happy Father's Day to Matt and Mark and all the other dad's out there!

I used to always hear that Father's Day started out as a joke and as more of a way of ridiculing fathers than anything else; but after a few years people started to take it more seriously. However, Matt's stories sound more official (and actually have dates and names) so I would tend to believe one of those instead.

WISHING YOU A HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!! HOPE YOU HAD A WONDERFUL DAY!

[Bonnie]

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!