Sonora Smart Dodd from Spokane, Washington, encouraged celebrating Father’s Day. Her father, Willian Jackson Smart, was a widower who raised his six children alone. Ms. Dodd desired to honor her father, so she rallied support from the Spokane Ministerial Alliance, the Spokane Young Men’s Christian Association, and local churches. The first Father’s Day celebration was held on the third Sunday of June 19, 1910.

Showing support, President Woodrow Wilson visited Spokane in 1916 to speak during a Father’s Day service. Momentum for this idea grew over time. By the 1930s, advertisers and retailers began promoting Father’s Day as a commercial holiday. More marketing campaigns pushed for wider public acceptance. President Lyndon B. Johnson issued a presidential proclamation recognizing Father’s Day in 1966. President Richard Nixon signed a law making Father’s Day an official national observance in 1972.

Our children celebrated their father and my husband with dinner, cards, and small gifts. He enjoyed eating his rack of ribs, reading his written heartfelt words, and receiving his jar of honey and Southern Chow-Chow. I’m sure many similarly celebrated their fathers this past weekend. But others may have felt the absence of a missing father.

Like me, several of my friends could not visit their father on June 15, 2025. My father, Floyd Cooper, has passed. Though I won’t see him until we reunite in Heaven, I often reflect upon our times together, especially his last four to five months of life.

When I was a teenager, Daddy committed adultery, which destroyed our home. Daddy and I struggled in our relationship for some time, but God compelled me to reconcile. Obeying the word of God and honoring my father was a choice I’ll never regret. Suffering greatly from bone cancer brought my father to a place of spiritual reflection and surrender. My father and I shared many moments of prayer and insightful conversation over the last five months of his life. I treasure these memories.

One young friend of mine cried tears of sorrow as she felt void of celebrating this Father’s Day. The loss of her godly father earlier this year left her with a hurting heart. I’m thankful she has sweet memories to keep until she meets him in Heaven. Another friend of mine lost her father to death a few days ago. Though she could not hug him tight this Father’s Day, he left his treasured Bible for her to have in her hands. I’m sure these ladies will treasure the memories of their godly fathers. 

Some may not have treasured memories of their fathers. I’m aware estranged relations and abandonment by fathers won’t evoke celebration but may cause heartache instead. If you’re in this place of pain, know you are remembered.

No matter our varied Father’s Day experiences, let’s strive to honor our fathers. Better yet, may I encourage you to celebrate our heavenly Father God. He is perfect, powerful, and worthy of all praise every day!

Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Psalm 150:1