Tomorrow is Father's Day. It is a day to stop, take a few minutes and honor your father. He may not always be right, but he always has your best interests at heart.
Today is the day to thank him.
Way back in 1909, a grateful daughter, Sonora (Smart) Dodd, had a seed of an idea planted for what would become a national observance.
She wanted to honor her dad, who was widowed while his wife was giving birth to their sixth child. He alone raised all six of his children in the rural wilds of Washington state.
Thanks to Sonora, that state was the first in the nation to set aside a special day to honor her dad, William Jackson Smart, and dads across the state -- June 19, 1910.
President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea in 1924. While it was actively celebrated for many, many years, President Richard Nixon and the Congress proclaimed Father's Day a national tradition in 1971. It is always marked on the third Sunday of June.
While we all can't come up with such a grand idea to honor our dads like inventing Father's Day, we can all make it a promise to let Dad know how special and important he is to us.
We wish a heartfelt "Happy Father's Day" to every dad.
