The Origin of Fathers Day

In 1909 in Spokane, Washington, a Christian woman named Sonora Louise Smart Dodd, first thought of a day to honor her father, Henry Jackson Smart. She was in church that day listening to a Mother's Day sermon when the idea came to her.

For her, since the death of her mother, she was raised and nurtured by her father. In her eyes, her father is the most wonderful man; courageous, loving, selfless and all that God meant a father to be. And since her father's birthday was in June, Sonora celebrated the first Father's Day in June 19th,1910.

Fourteen years later, in 1924, President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. In 1972, President Nixon established a permanent U.S. observance of Father's Day to be held on the third Sunday of June.

So the idea for creating a day for children to honor their fathers began in the heart of a woman in Spokane, Washington. Since then Fathers day is being celebrated throughout the world on the 3rd Sunday of June every year.

In our church, we honor all fathers and uphold them with our prayers that they will be all that God wants them to be; a loving husband to his wife, a exemplary father to his children and a contributing citizen to the Kingdom of God and to society.