You could call her the mother of Father’s Day. The late Sonora Smart Dodd launched the celebration of dads in 1910 in her hometown of Spokane, Washington. Betsy Roddy of Los Angeles is her great-granddaughter and last direct descendant. She says Dodd’s own father raised six children on his own after his wife died. Dodd decided he and other dads deserved some credit. She spent more than six decades lobbying everyone from presidents to retailers for support in celebrating Father’s Day nationwide.
