Yesterday was Father’s Day, and it was the first Father’s Day that Kevin and I celebrated without our father, who passed away last August. But it was my father, Larry Weir, who sponsored me into Rotary Club #21, and for that and many other reasons, I will forever be grateful.

 

As many of you know, Father’s Day was created right here in Spokane! Sonora Smart Dodd lost her mother at a young age and was raised by her father. She wanted a day to celebrate fathers and petitioned both our local government and the U.S. government to create a “Father’s Day.”  The first Father’s Day was celebrated on June 19, 1910. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson sent a telegraph to Spokane praising Father's Day services. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the third Sunday of June as Father's Day. But it wasn’t until 1972 that President Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the 3rd Sunday of June each year.

 

Sonora Smart Dodd, whose husband was one of the original founders of Ball & Dodd Funeral Home, was honored at Expo ’74, the World's Fair. She died four years later at the age of ninety-six and is buried in Greenwood Memorial Terrace here in Spokane.

 

And as we all know, the “Father” of Rotary is Paul Harris. But did you know that he was not the first president of his Rotary club, but was actually the third? Neither did I until I read his bio, click here to read. Please take the time to read his bio to learn more about the “Father” of Rotary.

 

So as we celebrate our “Fathers,” I’m proud to say my father was a Rotarian! I’m also proud to know that Spokane is the birthplace of “Father’s Day” in our country. And I’m proud to know so many great “fathers” AND mothers in our Rotary club! Because Rotary is a family, and I’m proud to be a part of it!