MFT60

I’ve been thinking the past few days about doing a page for fathers. I didn’t have the luxury of having my father very long after I was married. He died when I was only 26.

My father set a good example for any child to follow. He was a good Christian man who lived up to his Quaker principles as long as he lived. He worked in various factories all his life as a tool and die maker. He was very good at his trade and because of that some of his friends thought that I might be able to catch on to do the work of grinding cam shafts at the Farmall plant where he was employed. I was hired on my dad’s reputation and worked there for nearly 10 years. So I dedicate this page to my father.

Many people have the mistaken idea that Father’s Day was established as a holiday in order to help greeting card manufacturers sell more cards. As a matter of fact when a "father's day" was first proposed there were no Father's Day cards!

Mrs. John B. Dodd, of Washington, first proposed the idea of a "father's day" in 1909. Mrs. Dodd wanted a special day to honor her father, William Smart. William Smart was widowed when his wife (Mrs. Dodd's mother) died in childbirth with their sixth child. Mr. Smart was left to raise the newborn and his other five children by himself on a rural farm in eastern Washington state. It was after Mrs. Dodd became an adult that she realized the strength and selflessness her father had shown in raising his children as a single parent. So she instituted the first observance of Father’s Day.

The event took place on June 19, 1910 in Spokane Washington. At about the same time in various towns and cities across American other people were beginning to celebrate a "father's day." It wasn’t until 1924 that President Calvin Coolidge supported the idea of a national Father's Day. And then finally in 1966 President Lyndon Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the 3rd Sunday of June as Father's Day.

Many stories and poems have been written about fathers and I want to share some of them.

One Father's Love

Phil Littleford took his son on an Alaskan fishing trip with two other men.* In a quest to find some running salmon, they flew their seaplane into a secluded bay. The fishing was everything they had dreamed. When they had finished for the day, their plane was on dry ground. The fluctuating tide had left their plane twenty-three feet from

the water, so they cooked some of their fish for dinner and slept in the plane.

When they awoke.... the tide had come in and their plane was drifting in the water. They cranked the engine and took off. Unknown to them, one of the pontoons had been punctured and was filled with water. The extra weight caused the seaplane to crash within moments. Everyone survived, BUT they had no safety equipment on board. They used their waders as floating devices, but the frigid water was a deadly threat. The current was too strong for Dr. Littleford’s twelve-year-old son to swim against. The other two men fought their way against the tide and barely made it to shore.

The two survivors looked back from shore to see Dr. Littleford and his son, Mark, being swept out to sea, arm-in-arm. The Coast Guard reported that they probably lasted no more than an hour in the freezing waters. The hypothermia would chill the body functions and put them to sleep. Mark, with a smaller body mass, would fall asleep first and die in his father’s arms. Dr. Littleford could have made it to shore, BUT that would have meant abandoning his son. He chose to die with his boy!

I think Dr. Littleford’s choice was no different than most father’s would make.

And now for a poem and a few quotes.