GAIL DRAKE: Fathers: Our unsung heroes

Fatherhood is pretending the gift you love the most is soap-on-a-rope. … A father is a son’s first hero, a daughter’s first love. … A father is a guy who has pictures in his wallet where money used to be. … A man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child.

A good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed and yet one of the most valuable assets in our society. – Billy Graham

The celebration of fathers as providers and protectors first began as a Catholic holiday in the Middle Ages, known as “St. Joseph’s Day.” That celebration commemorated the role of the earthly father of the Christ. Entitled “Nutritor Domini,” or ‘”Nourisher of the Lord,” Joseph was recognized as the “putative father of Jesus” through much of Europe with an annual feast on March 19. The Spanish and Portuguese carried this holiday to Latin America, whose countries still celebrate St. Joseph’s Day on March 19. The Coptics, however, have celebrated St. Joseph’s Day on July 20 since the 5th century.

The first Father’s Day celebrated in North America was a remembrance Sunday at the William Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church South in Fairmont, W.V., on July 5, 1908. Grace Golden Clayton was grieving the loss of her father and the other 360 miners lost in the Monongah Mining Disaster of December 1907, that left thousands of fatherless children. She asked her pastor to honor those fathers with a special service.

On the other side of the map, in Spokane, Wash., Sonora Smart Dodd urged her pastor at Knox Presbyterian Church to honor fathers. The honorees celebrated during that special service, held June 19, 1910, included her Civil War veteran father, who raised his six children as a single parent.

After a decade of pursuing art education in Chicago, Dodd returned home to promote the day on a national level. She enlisted tradesmen who benefited most from the holiday: manufacturers of ties and tobacco pipes. By 1938, she had the support of the Father’s Day Council – associated with the New York Associated Menswear Retailers, who systematically promoted the holiday. Most Americans, however, resisted the blatant commercialism and were slow to accept a formal holiday.

After multiple bills were introduced in Congress over the years, in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson issued the first Presidential Proclamation honoring fathers. Finally, in 1972, Richard Nixon signed into law legislation recognizing the national holiday on the third Sunday in June.

Fatherhood is one of the most challenging yet rewarding occupations. Provider, protector, advisor, coach, maintenance man, driver, master griller – the job description goes on and on. The importance of fathers cannot be overstated, especially considering the statistics on father absenteeism. According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, boys without fathers are twice as likely to drop out of school or land in jail as those with fathers, and four times more likely to need treatment for emotional and behavioral issues.

We celebrate today our fathers, whose labors, sacrificial choices, and wise advice have made an immeasurable impact in our lives. And for those who may not have a father, for whatever reason — a special promise: “A Father of the fatherless, and protector of widows, is God in his holy habitation.” Psalm 10:18.

God gave me a special gift – and I call him “Dad.”

Gail Drake practices probate, mediation and children’s law in Albany.