What are the origins of Father’s Day, and why do we need to celebrate it?

Father’s Day dates back to 1910 when a Spokane, Wash., woman, Sonora Smart Dodd, realized there needed to be a counterpart to Mother’s Day. (Mother’s Day was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 and became an official U.S. holiday in 1914, according to history.com.)

The contribution of a father to a family is priceless. For many households, dads are the center of the households, the patrons and the breadwinners. They are the ties that bind.

But Father’s Day celebrations precede 1910.

According to history.com, on July 5, 1908, a West Virginia church sponsored the nation’s first event explicitly in honor of fathers, a Sunday sermon in memory of the 362 men who had died in the previous December’s explosions at the Fairmont Coal Co. mines in Monongah, W.Va. But it was a one-time commemoration and not an annual holiday.

The next year, Dodd, one of six children raised by a widower, tried to establish an official equivalent to Mother’s Day for male parents, according to the history website. She went to local churches, the YMCA, shopkeepers and government officials to drum up support for her idea, and she was successful. Washington State celebrated the nation’s first statewide Father’s Day on June 19, 1910.

However, it was not until 1972 — 58 years after President Woodrow Wilson made Mother’s Day official — that the day honoring fathers became a nationwide holiday in the United States.

On Wednesday, the Eagle dedicated some pages of the newspaper to fathers, and we profiled the impact of a father on a family who are all golfers, and how fathers are leaders for children involved in Boy Scouts.

Today the Eagle features stories about the impact of fathers in Girl Scouts, and the qualities of what makes a great dad.

The contribution of a father to a family is priceless. Without the leadership of our fathers, we can lose direction. Without their guidance and support, we often feel lost.

So today is the day to appreciate and honor our fathers.

Actually, it should be that way every day.

—AA