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| Billie Silvey |
| July 2006 |
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| An eclectic website about Women, Christianity, History, Culture and the Arts--and anything else that comes to mind. |
| What is a father? A father is a man--the perfect complement to a mother or woman. He’s tall enough to reach things on the highest shelf or get a ball out of a tree, yet short enough to get on eye-level with a child. He’s mature enough to go to work every day--even when he doesn’t want to--to provide for the needs of his family, yet childlike enough to make up funny words and games and laugh like a friend. He’s serious in emergencies, but fun at play. He remembers so much that he can answer a lifetime of questions and yet can forget what you did that made him angry yesterday. Setting aside a special day to honor fathers was championed by Sonora Smart Dodd of Washington in 1909. Sitting in church listening to a Mother’s Day sermon, she thought about her father, who had functioned in that role in her family. William Smart, a Civil War veteran, was widowed when his sixth child was born. He reared all six children on a farm in eastern Washington state. His daughter determined to honor him and other fathers with a special day. In 1924, Calvin Coolidge supported making Father’s Day a national observance, and in 1966, Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June for the observance. In this issue of my website, I celebrate fathers--the fathers in my family and those in yours as well. This month’s article is on Patriarchy, the Bible study on God as Father, and the feature article on the three fathers in our family. Hope you enjoy it. I’d love to hear about your father or a father figure in your life. Don’t hesitate to click on my email address, b.silvey@sbcglobal.net, and tell me about him. . |
| Father's Day |
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