Third Sunday in June?
The United States is one of the few countries in the world that has an official day on which fathers are honored by their

children. On the third Sunday in June, fathers all across the United States are given presents, treated to dinner or

otherwise made to feel special.
?The origin of Father's Day is not clear. Some say that it began with a church service in West Virginia in 1908. Others

say the first Father's Day ceremony was held in Vancouver, Washington.

The president of the Chicago branch of the Lions' Club, Harry Meek, is said to have celebrated the first Father's Day with

his organization in 1915; and the day that they chose was the third Sunday in June, the closest date to Meek's own

birthday! Regardless of when the first true Father's Day occurred, the strongest promoter of the holiday was Mrs. Bruce

John Dodd of Spokane, Washington. Mrs. Dodd felt that she had an outstanding father. He was a veteran of the Civil War.

His wife had died young, and he had raised six children without their mother. In 1909, Mrs. Dodd approached her own

minister and others in Spokane about having a church service dedicated to fathers on June 5, her father's birthday. That

date was too soon for her minister to prepare the service, so he spoke a few weeks later on June 19th. From then on, the

state of Washington celebrated the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. Children made special desserts, or visited their

fathers if they lived apart.

States and organizations began lobbying
Congress to declare an annual Father's Day. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson approved of this idea, but it was not until

1924 when President Calvin Coolidge made it a national event to "establish more intimate relations between fathers and

their children and to impress upon fathers the full measure of their obligations." Since then, fathers had been honored

and recognized by their families throughout the country on the third Sunday in June. When children can't visit their

fathers or take them out to dinner, they send a greeting card. Traditionally, fathers prefer greeting cards that are not

too sentimental. Most greeting cards are whimsicalso fathers laugh when they open them. Some give heartfelt thanks for

being there whenever the child needed Dad.