Sonora Louise Smart Dodd (February 18, 1882 – March 22, 1978) was the daughter of
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
veteran
A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field.
A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces.
A topic o ...
William Jackson Smart, and was responsible for the founding of
Father's Day
Father's Day is a day set aside for honoring one's father, as well as fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of fathers in society. "Father's Day" complements similar celebrations honoring family members, such as Mother's Day and, in som ...
.
Early life
Sonora Louise Smart was born in
Jenny Lind
Johanna Maria Lind (Madame Goldschmidt) (6 October 18202 November 1887) was a Swedish opera singer, often called the "Swedish Nightingale". One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in ...
,
Sebastian County, Arkansas
Sebastian County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 127,799, making it the fourth-most populous county in Arkansas. The county has two ...
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, to a farm west of
Spokane, Washington
Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...
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 Mar ...
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 the 28th president of the United States, serving from 1913 to 1921. He was the only History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat to serve as president during the Prog ...
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. He was a dominant force in the History of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, running three times as the party' ...
was another early admirer of the observance. In 1966, President
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, under whom he had served a ...
signed a
presidential proclamation
In the United States, a presidential proclamation is a statement issued by the president of the United States on an issue of public policy. It is a type of presidential directive.
Details
A presidential proclamation is an instrument that:
*s ...
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 until his resignation in 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 36th vice president under P ...
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 Northwestern United States, northwest United States. It was the ...
, 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. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program that "linked the religious and the secular through concerted and far ...
.
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 university, 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 gr ...
, painting, writing poetry, and working in fashion design in Hollywood.
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See also
* Grace Golden Clayton
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodd, Sonora Smart
1882 births
1978 deaths
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