FATHER’S DAY | William Jackson Smart was a nurturing father before nurturing fathers were in vogue. When his wife died in 1898, he singlehandedly raised six children, Day in his honor. one of whom founded Father's Smart’s only daughter, Sonora Smart Dodd, originated Father's Day in Spokane, Washington, in the 1750s. Before the revolution, father stayed home and raised the kids after mother went through the process of "nursing". After the revolution, father left home to go to the factories and offices. Mother became not only the childbearer, but the disciplinarian and teacher because father wasn't home. Twenty odd years ago father began to implement that role again. He’s now not only the moral leader of the family, he has again become the disciplinarian and teacher, and he does the laundry, dishes and helps with housecleaning. So we wish you a great day. on June 6, 1910, by persuading the Spokane Ministerial Alliance and the city’s YMCA forces and establish a day to acknowledge fathers. to join | HAPPY FATHER’S DAY! The idea blossomed, as William Jennings Bryan and Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Calvin Coolidge endorsed the holiday. A FATHER’S DAY PRAYER Congress endorsed the day in 1914. Another congressional endorsement and a presidential proclamation by President Richard Nixon in 197I firmly established the holiday's permanence. Father’s Day is observed on the Third Sunday month Dodd's father was born. in June, the Mothers already were honored early in the century with a holiday, and Dodd, who died at age 96 in 1978, said it was unfair that fathers had no day of their own. Apparently fathers roles in the home are returning to those that they played in the United States before the Industrial Revolution "Lord, thank you for fathers and their special place in the life of the family. Grant that the fathers of our church and our nation shall learn and accept the unique role you have given to them. Give them the spiritual discernment to lead their children to know God as Father through faith in Thee. We pray that fathers will have the wisdom to express your truth in such a way that their home will be a heaven on earth because you are in it. And Thank You, for Our heavenly Father. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." -Church Bulletin Bits #3