Sonora Smart Dodd
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Sonora Smart Dodd (February 18, 1882 – March 22, 1978) was the daughter of
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
veteran A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that h ...
William Jackson Smart, and was responsible for the founding of
Father's Day Father's Day is a holiday of honoring fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. In Catholic countries of Europe, it has been celebrated on 19 March as Saint Joseph's Day since the Middle Ages. In the Unite ...
.


Early life

Sonora Louise Smart was born in Jenny Lind, Sebastian County, Arkansas to William Jackson Smart (1842–1919) and his wife Ellen Victoria Cheek Smart (1851–1898) on February 18, 1882. In 1889, when Sonora was seven years old, the Smart family moved from
Marion, Arkansas Marion is a city in and the county seat of Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 12,345 at the 2010 census, a 38.7% increase since 2000. The city is part of the Memphis metropolitan area. It is the second largest city ...
, to a farm west of
Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Cana ...
between Creston and Wilbur. When Sonora was 16, her mother died in childbirth with her sixth child. Sonora was the only daughter and shared with her father William in the raising of her younger brothers, including her new infant brother Marshall. Sonora Smart married John Bruce Dodd (1870–1945), one of the original founders of Ball & Dodd Funeral Home, and had a son, John Bruce "Jack" Dodd, born in 1909.


Father's Day

Though a Father's Day service was held on July 5, 1908 in West Virginia to honor the fathers killed in the Monongah Mine Disaster, it is Sonora Smart Dodd who is credited as the founder of the official American national holiday. Smart held her father in great esteem. While hearing a church sermon about the newly recognized
Mother's Day Mother's Day is a celebration honoring the mother of the family or individual, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds, and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in th ...
at Central Methodist Episcopal Church, Sonora felt strongly that fatherhood needed recognition as well. 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. The first Father's Day was celebrated June 19, 1910, in Spokane, Washington. Although observance of the holiday faded in the 1920s, over time, the idea of Father's Day became popular and embraced across the nation. In 1916, President
Woodrow Wilson Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of ...
sent a telegraph to Spokane praising Father's Day services.
William Jennings Bryan William Jennings Bryan (March 19, 1860 – July 26, 1925) was an American lawyer, orator and politician. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, running three times as the party's nominee for President ...
was another early admirer of the observance. In 1966, President
Lyndon B. Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...
signed a
presidential proclamation A presidential proclamation is a statement issued by a US president on an issue of public policy and is a type of presidential directive. Details A presidential proclamation is an instrument that: *states a condition, *declares a law and require ...
declaring the third Sunday of June as Father's Day. In 1972, President
Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the 3rd Sunday of June each year. Dodd was honored at
Expo '74 Expo '74, officially known as the International Exposition on the Environment, Spokane 1974, was a world's fair held May 4, 1974, to November 3, 1974 in Spokane, Washington in the northwest United States. It was the first environmentally themed ...
, the World's Fair, in Spokane in 1974. She died four years later at the age of ninety-six, and was buried in Greenwood Memorial Terrace in Spokane.


Other work

Besides her advocacy for Father's Day, Dodd was also active in the Spokane chapter of the
Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...
. In the 1920s, Dodd spent some time away from Spokane, studying at the
School of the Art Institute of Chicago The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is a private art school associated with the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to an art students' cooperative founded in 1866, which grew into the museum and ...
, painting, writing poetry, and working in fashion design in Hollywood.


See also

* Grace Golden Clayton


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodd, Sonora Smart 1882 births 1978 deaths American temperance activists People from Sebastian County, Arkansas People from Spokane, Washington School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni People from Marion, Arkansas Woman's Christian Temperance Union people