Thanks Sonora Dodd

In the interest of equal time, hey, hey, it’s Father’s Day. So hats off to us dads, all 64.3 million of us. Almost seriously, dads don’t generally toot their own horn and they shouldn’t. But on behalf of dads, thank to Ms Dodd for Father’s Day. She was from Spaokane, Wa and got the idea for Father’s Day by(of all things) listening to a Mother’s Day sermon at church. She wanted her widower dad, Civil War vet, William Smart to be appropriately honored. Upon the death of his wife, he was left to rear six children on the family farm. He must have done a good job if he had  daughter who wanted to pay him honor.

June 19, 1910 was chosen as the first Father’s Day and so proclaimed by the mayor of Spokane. June was chosen since it was the month of Mr Smart’s birth. Surprisingly to me, the first presidential proclamation regarding Father’s Day was not until 196 courtesy of LBJ.

So, I had the opportunity to celebrate 26 such days with my dad before he moved up and out. Admittedly, I probably  contributed little  to the first 3 or 4  of those. And I would guess I always saw him on those days. For my wife as a child and me as a father, that has not always been the case. When her dad was with  us, the constraints of geography kept her apart from him on some of those days. So it has been  true with me. And that is ok. I treasure the love of my  children whether they are near or far. I must add for clarification that I consider myself fortunate to have added an additional child to my “quiver”(Psalm 127 :4-5) when my son and his wife were married a few years ago.

So, thanks Sonora Dodd, again proving the power of one individual to all of us who wonder what can one person do.