One of our favorite holidays at Assisted Living Pickerington is Father’s Day, but do you know its origins? Long before Father’s Day, there was Mother’s Day.
While Mother’s Day had been in existence since the end of the Civil War, it was not a commercial holiday until 1908. Mother’s Day was immediately accepted by many Americans and in 1909, 45 states observed the holiday. Not until 1914, however, did President Woodrow Wilson approve a resolution that made the second Sunday in May a holiday in honor of “that tender, gentle army, the mothers of America.”
Father’s Day Established
Father’s Day was first celebrated in 1909 in Spokane, Washington. A woman named Sonora Louise Smart Dodd was in church on Mother’s Day and was thinking of how much her father meant to her since he had raised her upon her mother’s death. He had been a loving, courageous and selfless parent, just as she would have expected her mother would have been had she raised her. His birthday was in June, so on June 19th, 1910, the first Father’s Day was celebrated with Ms. Dodd’s help. Fourteen years later, in 1924, President Calving Coolidge proclaimed the third Sunday in the month of June as Father’s Day. But, not until 1972, did President Richard M. Nixon establish that the third Sunday in June would be a permanent U.S. observance of Father’s Day. Now, we can’t imagine a June without Father’s Day. It is a time to celebrate Dad and all the sacrifices he made, and all the love he gave his children over the years.
We at Assisted Living of Pickerington, and all of the Abbington Assisted Living facilities want to recognize all of the Dads who reside with us. We look forward to seeing the families and friends of our resident Dads this year on Sunday, June 19, 2016, on the anniversary of the very first Father’s Day celebration in Spokane, Washington. Happy Father’s Day!
