Dads everywhere have Sonora Smart Dodd to thank for getting Father's Day started. In 1909, Sonora sat in a church in Spokane, Washington listening to a sermon expounding on the virtues of motherhood. But, as she sat there, she thought about how special her own father was since it was he who raised her after the death of her mother. She saw him as a loving, kind, self-sacrificing, and amazing man and knew that there were many fabulous fathers just like him who deserved their own day to be celebrated.