Father's Day is a special day to honor and appreciate fathers.

Mrs. Sonora Louise Smart Dodd is generally credited with establishing Father's Day. Her father, William Smart, had raised his six young children alone. To recognize her father's devotion and love for his family, Mrs. Dodd suggested to her minister that the congregation honor all fathers.

She selected the third Sunday in June because her father's birthday was in June. Because of Mrs. Dodd's efforts, the first Father's Day was observed in Spokane, Washington, on June 19, 1910.

The white or red rose is the official flower for Father's Day. Mrs. Dodd suggested that people wear a white rose to honor a father who was deceased and a red rose for a father who was living.

In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson approved the idea to observe Father's Day. He marked the event by pressing a special button on his desk in the White House that unfurled a flag at a Father's Day celebration in Spokane Washington.

Father's Day did not become a national holiday until 1972, when President Richard Nixon signed the congressional resolution permanently establishing the 3rd Sunday in June as Father's Day.

Harry C. Meek is also given credit for the idea of Father's Day. Mr. Meek, as president of a Lions Club in Chicago, gave speeches to various clubs in the United States about the need to honor fathers.

In appreciation for his work, the Lions Clubs of America presented him with a gold watch, with the inscription "Originator of Father's Day" on his birthday, June 20, 1920.

Fathers Day Gift Ideas