Meet the daughter behind Father's day

West Virginia's Grace Golden Clayton was the first person to coin the idea of celebrating Father's day after a coal mining disaster on December 6, 1907, killed 361 men out of which 250 were fathers. 

A memorial service was organised on July 5, 1908, a date closest to the Sunday of Clayton's father's birthday. Although the remembrance recognised Clayton's father and the 1,000 children's fathers, the event was local and did not gain national attention.

Reasons for this have been cited on claims that two other large gatherings had happened around the same time: a July 4 celebration the day before, which gathered some 12,000 people to the city, and the death of a well-known daughter of parishioners to the church. 

The combination of intense sadness may have directed attention away from the planned Father's day remembrance service. On account of this, no one felt it necessary to approach the city and request a proclamation instituting an official Father's Day.

In the following years, many people attempted to officiate a national Father's Day elsewhere, but it wasn't until 1972 when Richard Nixon signed into law a bill proclaiming it a national observance.

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