FATHER'S DAY FACTS

Sonora Smart Dodd thought of the idea for Father's Day while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in 1909. She proposed a day to honor her father in June, the month of her father's birth. Her father, William Smart, was a civil war veteran. He was widowed when his wife died in childbirth. Mr. Smart raised his six children on a rural farm in Spokane, Washington.

Harry C. Meek, president of the Lions Club in Chicago, was also a component in establishing Fathers' Day. He gave several speeches around the United States expressing the need for a day to honor our fathers. In 1920 the Lions Clubs of America presented him with a gold watch, with the inscription "Originator of Fathers' Day".
"And, ye fathers, provoke not your children
to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord."
Harry C. Meek, president of the Lions Club in Chicago, toured the United States, giving speeches expressing the need for a day to honor fathers.
The first occurrence is credited to Mrs. Charles Clayton of West Virginia, in 1908.
J.H. Berringer, of Washington, conducted another Father's Day service in 1912.

President Calvin Coolidge showed support of honoring Fathers and made it a national event . In 1926 a National Father's Day Committee was formed in New York. Congress passed a Joint Resolution recognizing Father's Day in 1956, but it took another ten years to make it official. In 1966 , President Lyndon Johnson officially proclaimed Fathers' Day a national holiday to be celebrated on the 3rd Sunday of June.

Mrs. Dodd favored the red rose to honor a father still living, while a white flower honored a deceased dad. Therefore roses are the Father's Day flowers and a red rose is worn for a living father and white rose is worn if the father has died.

A Father's Day Boutonnieres
Has a meaning of it's own.
Red indicates your father is alive.

A white rose boutonnieres
Has a sad meaning.
White means your father is deceased.