By SALINA POST
Happy Father's Day!
If you're a father, grandfather, great-grandfather, etc., today's your day.
According to information from the Library of Congress, the first official national celebration of Father's Day was in 1966, when a public law was inacted for that year only. Finally, in 1972, a public law was enacted declaring that the third Sunday in June of every year would be designated as Father's Day.
It appears that people were celebrating Father's Day prior to 1966, however. In a 2017 blog, Danna Bell, an educational resource specialist at the Library of Congress, noted that a Dec. 27, 1918, article in the Idaho Republican told of the Army and Navy designating a Father's Day for soldiers to write home to their fathers. In this case, Nov. 24 was designated as Father's Day, the article reported.
But how did Father's Day begin? Bell found two original stories concerning the beginnings of Father's Day. The more often cited of the two tells of Sonora Dodd's efforts.
"Motivated by a sermon about the creation of Mother’s Day and looking for a way to honor her father, who raised her and her five siblings alone after the death of her mother, Dodd worked to establish a celebration of fathers," Bell wrote.
Called the Mother of Father's Day, Dodd suggested that her home city of Spokane, Wash., set aside a day to honor fathers. Her efforts were met favorably and the city successfully celebrated Father's Day in 1910.
The other story Bell discovered came from three years earlier. After a devastating explosion destroyed much of the Monongah Mine in West Virginia on Dec. 6, 1907, Grace Golden Clayton, who was mourning the loss of her father in the disaster, "suggested to her minister that one day be set aside to honor fathers, especially those fathers lost in the disaster," Bell noted.
Regardless of how Father's Day originated, the holiday continues to serve as a time to remember fathers who are no longer with us and to celebrate those who are. Enjoy your day, gentlemen!
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Danna Bell's blog can be found on the Library of Congress website.