Father’s Days of Years Past Leave Good Memories

Father’s Day, which was established on the third Sunday in June by proclamation of President Lyndon B. Johnson, brings warm memories for both dads and children, even years later, say Mountain View and Los Altos residents.

“The first thing that comes to mind is getting together with the kids and seeing their thoughtfulness,” said Bob Marya, owner of Marya’s café in Mountain View near .

Marya said one year his children, now 36 and 30 years old, surprised him with a trip on a yacht in San Francisco.

“We were just supposed to go for lunch in the City,” he said. “Then the kids were like ‘Hello dad, let’s get going on the boat over there.’”

Father's Day is especially exciting for new fathers as they get to now join the receiving end of the holiday.

For Mountain View resident Steve Lim, his first Father’s Day is one he will never forget, he said. His wife bought him a new BMW M3 in 2009, after his first son was a few months old.

Lim said he is excited for this Father’s Day as it celebrates another first with his newborn and second son now a part of the day.

“I think Father’s Day is there to make dads feel better because Mother’s Day is what really matter,” Lim said. “Mom is the nucleus of the family.”

All fathers alike seem to take the day as one to appreciate their family and the little things.

Craig Johnson of Los Altos said felt grateful when one year his daughter cleaned her room for the holiday.

“It was a rare occasion,” Johnson said with a smile.

On the other side, as a son, Johnson distinctively remembered a baseball game with his own father in 1973.

“We never did a whole lot together so that was unique and nice,” he said.

No matter how the holiday is remembered years later, the simple things still make another dad smile.

David Mott of Los Altos said his children have made him pancakes and coffee every year. He still looks forward to it, even if they still don’t make the coffee taste great, he admitted.

“I don’t think of them as celebrating me,” Mott said. “I think of it as all of us recognizing that the family is important.”

Mother's Day precedes Father's Day, officially an unofficially.  While the observance of Father's Day goes back as far as July 1908, the first observance of Mother's Day was in 1907, credited to Anna Jarvis and established on the second Sunday of May in 1914 by Congress and President Woodrow Wilson Activities and proclamations related to Mother's Day date back to 1870.

The Father's Day date we celebrate today was established in 1966 as the third Sunday in June by proclamation of President Johnson. It signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon in 1972, after being passed by Congress.