Father's Day is celebrated on the 3rd Sunday in June. The idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers came about in 1909. While listening to a Mother's Day sermon in Spokane, Washington, Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea. Sonora's mother died in childbirth when her sixth child was born. Mr. Smart, who was a Civil War veteran, was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in the eastern part of Washington state. When Sonora became an adult, she realized the strength and courage her father had shown as a single parent and the parental sacrifices he lovingly made all those years.

She wanted him to know how special he was to her and inasmuch as he was born in June, she chose to hold the first Father's Day celebration in Spokane, Washington on June 19, 1910.

In 1924 President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father's Day, but it wasn't until 1966 that President Lyndon Johnson signed the proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June Father's Day officially in the United States.  Even then, the first Presidential Proclamation in 1966 was only for one year.  It wasn't until April 24, 1972 that Father's Day was assured annual recognition by Presidential Proclamation.

Roses are the flowers for Father's Day

Red roses are worn for a living father

White roses are worn for a father who has passed away

Fathers are wonderful people
Too little understood,
And we do not sing their praises
As often as we should...

For, somehow, Father seems to be
The man who pays the bills,
While Mother binds up little hurts
And nurses all our ills...

And Father struggles daily
To live up to "his image"
As protector and provider
And "hero of the scrimmage"...

And perhaps that is the reason
We sometimes get the notion,
That Fathers are not subject
To the thing we call emotion,

But if you look inside Dad's heart,
Where no one else can see
You'll find he's sentimental
And as "soft" as he can be...

But he's so busy every day
In the grueling race of life,
He leaves the sentimental stuff
To his partner and his wife...

But Fathers are just wonderful
In a million different ways,
And they merit loving compliments
And accolades of praise,

For the only reason Dad aspires
To fortune and success
Is to make the family proud of him
And to bring them happiness...

And like Our Heavenly Father,
He's a guardian and a guide,
Someone that we can count on
To be always on our side.

~ Helen Steiner Rice ~

Father's Day - Alphabet Soup

Marvelicious Happy Father's Day

Fathers Net - Tributes

The Fatherhood Place

A special thanks to Sonya Marvel for
the use of her background set.
also to Banner Boulevard for holiday banner blank.

For other graphics, I thank
Emma,
Patrick
and Alleysplace

Please visit their websites.