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Sonora was the only daughter and shared with her father William in the raising of her younger brothers, including her new infant brother Marshall. Sonora Smart married John Bruce Dodd (1870–1945), one of the original founders of Ball & Dodd Funeral Home, and had a son, John Bruce "Jack" Dodd, born in 1909.
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William Jackson Smart was a twice-married, twice-widowed father of 14 children.
William Jackson Smart was a twice-married, twice-widowed Civil War veteran and father of 14 children, one of whom dedicated her life to the creation of Father’s Day in honor of her devoted and selfless dad.
The story goes that William’s daughter, Sonora Smart Dodd, was attending one of the first official Mother’s Day services in 1909 at her church in Spokane, Washington, when she had an epiphany—if mothers deserved a day in honor of their loving service, why not fathers?
When Sonora was 16, her mother Ellen died, leaving William as a single father to Sonora and her five younger brothers. And by Sonora’s account, he performed brilliantly. “I remember everything about him,” Sonora said many years later to the Spokane Daily Chronicle. “He was both father and mother to me and my brothers and sisters.”
Sonora’s mother Ellen, herself a widow, had three children from a previous marriage. On top of that, William had also been married and widowed before he met Sonora’s mother. William had five children with his first wife, Elizabeth, who were already grown when William became a widower for the second time.
In 1910, Sonora brought a petition before the Spokane Ministerial Alliance to recognize the courage and devotion of all fathers like William on June 5, her dad’s birthday. The local clergy liked the idea of a special Father’s Day service, but couldn’t pull something together so quickly, so they settled for June 19, the third Sunday in June.
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Jun 18, 2017 · Born on Feb. 18, 1882, in Jenny Lind, Arkansas, Dodd was the oldest of six children. The family came to Washington state in 1889 and settled in a farmhouse near Wilbur. The death of Sonora Dodd ...
Jun 16, 2023 · Sonora Louise Smart Dodd is known as the “Mother of Father’s Day.”. She began trying to make Father’s Day an officially recognized holiday in 1909. Sonora Smart was born on February 18, 1882, in Jenny Lind (Sebastian County), the daughter of William Jackson Smart, a farmer and Civil War veteran, and Ellen Victoria Cheek Smart.
Jun 18, 2023 · FILE - A sign stands on Nov. 21, 2014, outside the home where Sonora Smart Dodd lived in Spokane, Wash., in the early 20th century. The sign commemorates Dodd as the person who conceived the idea of Father’s Day in 1909, the so-called ''Mother of Father’s Day.’'. The Craftsman-style house is privately owned and occupied, but the marker ...
Jun 18, 2023 · JUN 18, 2023 - 11:28 EDT. You could call her the mother of Father’s Day. The late Sonora Smart Dodd launched the celebration of dads in 1910 in her hometown of Spokane, Washington. As a result, she is the one responsible for those annual gifts that run the gamut from embarrassingly silly-looking neckties to kids’ finger paintings crafted ...
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Jun 14, 2017 · The Mother of Father’s Day: Sonora Smart Dodd (video) by John Maxwell June 14, 2017. By John Maxwell June 14, 2017. 2 Facebook Twitter Email. 2.1K. Unlike Mother’s Day, it took Father’s Day ...
