The first Father's Day

By: JOHN HUNNEMAN - Staff Writer | Friday, June 17, 2005 9:20 PM PDT ∞

The young woman sat in a Spokane, Wash., church on Sunday in 1909 listening to the minister praise a new holiday, Mother's Day, which had recently been enacted.

Sonora Dodd, then 28, had memories of her mother ---- who died when Sonora was a teenager ----- but it was her father who had been the guiding force in raising she and her siblings.

Born in Arkansas in 1882, Sonora and her family had come west to a farm in Eastern Washington. When her mother died in 1898, Sonora's father, William Smart, a Civil War veteran, was left to raise the couple's six children.

As she listened to the Mother's Day sermon at the Centenary Presbyterian Church, Sonora thought it would also be appropriate to honor fathers, like her own, and the seeds of Father's Day were first sewn.

Today, there are 66.3 million fathers in the country, reports the U.S. Census Bureau.

Nearly 95 million Father's Day cards will be given this year, making it the fourth largest card-sending occasion of the year.

Yes, and neckties still lead the list of Father's Day gifts, followed by hammers, wrenches and screwdrivers.

It was a much different world nearly a century ago when Sonora Dodd sat down with Dr. Conrad Bluhm, her church's pastor, to write the original Father's Day resolution that was approved by the Spokane Ministerial Alliance at its June 6, 1910, meeting held at the YMCA.

By mayoral proclamation, the first Father's Day was held on June 19, 1910, in Spokane.

"There was really no controversy about the holiday," said Rose Krause, curator for the Northwest Museum of Art and Culture in Spokane. "Everyone seemed to think it was a good idea."

The holiday caught on around the country. However, it wasn't until 1966 that President Johnson proclaimed the third Sunday in June as Father's Day and 1972 until President Nixon signed a law making it official.

Sonora married John Bruce Dodd and was quite a celebrity and well-known poet in Spokane until she died in 1978 at age 96.

In 1967, she wrote a letter to her old church giving details of that first Father's Day celebration there, said Janet Hauck, the archivist for Whitworth College in Spokane, which provided a copy of the missive.

"Dr. Bluhm chose for his sermon topic of the service, 'The Knighthood That Never Retreats,'" wrote Dodd. "With my family, John Bruce and our infant son whom we called Jack, I attended this service. To me this was a very sacred occasion."

Each father in attendance was presented with a red rose.

The letter continued: "There was special music and our first Father's Day at Centenary was something quite worth remembering."

On Sunday, when you remember Dad with thanks and a gift ---- hopefully not a necktie---- feel free to tell the story of Sonora Dodd, William Smart and how Father's Day began.

Contact columnist John Hunneman at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2603, or hunneman@californian.com.