I was heading to Cannon Falls to support their annual Father's Day Breakfast when I came upon this family crossing the road.

They had extended family (yes, just behind them) too.  It inspired me to look into the origins of Father's Day.

Extended Family not far behind the others. Photo by Gordy Kosfeld
Extended Family not far behind the others. Photo by Gordy Kosfeld
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Father's Day  was first proposed by Sonora Dodd of Spokane, Washington in 1909. It is currently celebrated in the United States annually on the third Sunday in June.

Dodd, heard a church sermon about the newly recognized Mother's Day at Central Methodist Episcopal Church in Spokane, Washington. 

She felt strongly that fatherhood needed recognition as well.

Her Father was raising six children alone because her Mother passed away.

She approached the Spokane Ministerial Alliance and suggested her own father's birthday, of June 5, as the day of honor for fathers. The Alliance chose the third Sunday in June instead.

It was 58 years after Mother's Day before Father's Day was recognized nationally.

Woodrow Wilson approved a resolution in 1914 that made the second Sunday in May a holiday in honor of  “that tender, gentle army, the mothers of America.”

In 1972, President Richard Nixon signed a proclamation making Father’s Day a federal holiday.

Economists estimate that Americans spend more than $1 billion each year on Father’s Day gifts.  Mother's Day exceeds $25 billion.

Father's Day 2004 I phoned my Dad in the evening and the next day came news he had fallen in the middle of the night at home and broken his hip.

He was at St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester then released to a nursing home in Grand Meadow because Spring Valley was full.

He passed away in Grand Meadow January 2005 at age 88.

Dad always was in bed before 9 at night and up at 4 in the morning.

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