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How an Arkansas woman became the ‘Mother of Father’s Day’
By Kyler Swaim,
13 days ago
JENNY LIND, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) — On Sunday, many are waking up to wish their dads a happy Father’s Day.
However, the holiday celebrated every third Sunday in June has only been around since 1972, more than 50 years after the establishment of Mother’s Day.
One Arkansas-born woman made it her duty to make Father’s Day a national holiday.
Sonora Smart Dodd was born in 1882 in the small community of Jenny Lind, about 10 miles south of Fort Smith, to Civil War veteran William Jackson Smart and Ellen Victoria Cheek Smart, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas . When she was five, her family moved to Spokane, Washington.
In 1909, Dodd listened to a church sermon about Mother’s Day that led to her wonder and confusion.
“And it bugged her,” Dodd’s great-granddaughter, Betsy Roddy, told The Associated Press in 2017. “She thought, ’Well, why isn’t there a Father’s Day?”
A year later she founded Father’s Day and celebrated it at the Spokane YMCA after being inspired by her father, a twice-widowed yet devoted dad, according to Fox News .
Despite not being a national holiday, it gained support over the years, including from presidents Woodrow Wilson and Calvin Coolidge.
In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued a presidential proclamation honoring fathers and designated the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day. Six years later, President Richard Nixon made the day a national holiday signing Father’s Day into law on April 24, 1972.
FILE – A rose lies on a grave marker of Sonora Smart Dodd at Greenwood Memorial Terrace on June 16, 1999, in Spokane, Wash. Dodd is known as the founder of the first celebration of Father’s Day in 1910. Sonora Smart Dodd lobbied local church and public officials for its creation. In the years that followed, Father’s Day grew to become an international event and Dodd lived to see President Richard Nixon declare it an official U.S. holiday in 1972. (AP Photo/Jeff T. Green, File) This Arkansas city is one of the friendliest in the South, Southern Living says
Dodd was able to see her dream come true and was honored at the World’s Fair at Expo ’74 in Spokane. She died around six years after her holiday became law at the age of 96.
Her tombstone in Spokane reads:
Sonora Smart Dodd Founder of Father’s Day 1882-1978
A plaque was placed at the Spokane YMCA in 1948 honoring Dodd. Her home was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2010 on the centennial of the first Father’s Day celebration.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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