Father's Day, poetry by Eric Shelman at Spillwords.com
Steve Dimatteo

Father’s Day

Father’s Day

written by: Eric Shelman

 

Giving and showing
Great-Grandfathers, Grandfathers,
Fathers, Brothers, Cousins, Cousin-in-laws Uncles, Nephews, respect, love, care
appreciation

Thanking our Fathers
for everything they have done
to, for, and taught us

Celebrating and
exalting all Fathers’ lives
grateful for their sacrifice

Taking care of us
physically, mentally
financially, spiritually

Fascinatingly favoring fathers
Admiring, adoring, amusing
Thankful, teacher, tenderness
Honor, helpful, head prepared household
Emulate, emotional, endearments
Remembrance, recognitions, revere
Superior, sweet, superb
Dad, disciplinarian, dedications
Affectionate, affinity, attentive, awesome
Yearning, youthful, yearly

Ability, admiration, adoration, adore
affection, affectionate, affinity, ambition
amusing, appreciation, ardor, artistic
athletic, attachment, attentive awe
awesome
Beloved, bond, brotherhood, brotherly
Capable, care-giver, caring, character
charmer, cherish, clever, compassion
compassionate, conscientious, cordial
corporate, cousin, cozy
Dad, dear, dedication, delightful
dependable, devoted, devotion,
diligent, dine, disciplinarian, doer
drive
Ease, emotion, emulate, endear
endearment
Fascinate, father, favor, favorite
fellowship, fisherman, fraternal
friendship, fond of
Gentle, genuine, giving, golfer, gratitude
Grace Golden Clayton
Head of household, heart, helper
helpful, hobbies, honest, honey
honor, hug, humor, hunter, husband
Idiosyncrasy, idolize, inclination
inspiration, integrity, intelligence
Jocular, joking, jovial, joyful
Karma, kidding, kindness, kiss
Laughter, lesson, logical, love, loving
loyalty
Marry, memories, mostly, memorable
Necessary, no-nonsense, notion
Objectivity, open, overt
Passionate, paternal, physical, precious Prize, protection, protective, provider
Quality, quantity, query, quick, quirk
Reasonable, reasoning, recognition
regard, remembrance, reminiscent
respect, responsible, revere, role model
romantic
Safety, security, son, spar, special, sports
superb, superior, sweet, sweetheart
Sonora Smart Dodd
Teacher, tender, tenderness, thankful, true
love
Uncle, understanding, unique, unusual
utmost
Variety
Warmth, willingness, wisdom, wonderful,
worker, worthy
Xxxx (kisses)
Yearning, youthful
Zeal, zestful

Remembering, praising, and revering
our Fathers and grandfathers’, lives
cheering, endearing, fearing
sharing their wisdom, knowledge
archives

Loving
remembering
making monumental
memorial moments, with him
sharing

Taught
lessons
exalting
commerating
revering all Fathers’, lives
alive, or dead

Chose
caring
adopted
paternity
take

Father’s Day was not accepted
a National holiday, in which
it wasn’t proposed a National
Until 1972, President Richard Nixon
declared third Sunday, of June
a day to recognize and honor
Fathers’ roles in society

“Father’s Day” day that recognizes
the role of fathers in the family
is an ancient tradition in our
history books, it mentions
a Southern European
tradition dating back to 1508

The first known Father’s Day service
occurred in Fairmont, West Virginia,
on July 5, 1908, after hundreds of men
died in the worst mining accident
in U.S. history

Grace Golden Clayton, the daughter of a
dedicated minister, proposed
a service to honor all fathers,
especially those who had died

however, the observance did not
become an annual event
which was not promoted
very few people
outside of the local area
knew about it

Meanwhile, across the entire country
another woman was inspired
to honor Fathers

In 1909, Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane,
Washington, was inspired by
Anna Jarvis and the idea of Mother’s Day

Her father, William Jackson Smart, a farmer
Civil War veteran, was also a single parent
who raised Sonora and her five brothers by
himself
after his wife Ellen died giving birth to
their youngest child in 1898

While attending a Mother’s Day
church service in 1909, Sonora,
then 27 years old, came up with the idea

Convinced Spokane Ministerial Association and the YMCA
to set aside a Sunday in June,
celebrating fathers, proposed June 5th
her father’s birthday
But the ministers choose third Sunday of June

June 19, 1910, the first Father’s Day events commenced
Sonora delivered presents to handicapped fathers, boys from the YMCA decorated their lapels with fresh-cut roses
red for living fathers
white for the deceased
the city’s ministers devoted their homilies to fatherhood.

Her idea struck a chord with Washington D.C.
Which would pave the path for it becoming a National Holiday

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson
and his family personally observed the day

Eight years later, President Calvin Coolidge signed a resolution in favor of Father’s Day “to establish more intimate relations between fathers and their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations”

In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson signed an executive order that the holiday be celebrated on the third Sunday in June

Under President Richard Nixon, in 1972 Congress passed an act officially making Father’s Day a national holiday
Six years later, Sonora died at age 96

Eventually becoming about exalting our Fathers
and hanging out with them and doing what they want to do as well.

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