Father’s Day will be Sunday, June 16. In May of 1909, Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington sat in church listening to a Mother’s Day sermon. She decided she wanted to designate a day for her dad. William Jackson Smart. Dodd’s mother had died in childbirth, and Dodd’s father, a Civil War veteran, had taken the responsibility of singlehandedly raising the newborn and his other five children.

The first Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910.

At the first Father’s Day celebration, young women handed out red roses to their fathers during a church service, and large baskets full of roses were passed around, with attendees encouraged to pin on a rose in honor of their fathers – red for the living and white in memory of the deceased. Dodd then brought her infant son along on a horse-drawn carriage ride through the city, bringing roses and gifts to home-bound fathers.

In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge said that he supported it, in order to establish closer relationships between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations, according to the Library of Congress.

President Lyndon Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers in 1966, but it wasn’t until 1972 that President Richard Nixon signed the public law that made it a permanent holiday. Since then, Father’s Day has become a time to recognize the many different father figures in our lives.

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The women of Farmington United Methodist Church hosted their Annual Tea, Holiday Celebration on Saturday, June 8. There were ten tables, each had a hostess and had invited guests to sit at their table. Each hostess had decorated their table with personal mementos to represent a holiday that was close to their heart. A guest speaker from the Haven of Peace explained that the organization is committed to helping women become self-sufficient. Haven of Peace is a shelter for women and children and has been in existence since 1959. A young lady who is staying at the Haven of Peace gave testament of how she has been helped through the organization. They have ladies of all ages that come to them for help. The Martha Circle/Shawl Ministry donated 28 Prayer Shawls to Haven of Peace.

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Please contact me if you have items for the Farmington News column. E-mail me at farmingtonnews@gmail.com or phone 896-6697.