This Sunday, in honor of fathers, we will celebrate Father’s Day. Like Mother’s Day, it is dedicated to showing gratitude toward family members. The calendar also gives us other special days to honor family members, including Grandparents Day.
My Dad, Hubert Strachan, passed away in September 2019. It’s been almost five years, and I would give anything to have one more visit with him to see him one more time. I cherish the memories; they were good ones. He was a great Dad to me.
June brings the opportunity to honor the father figures in our lives. The first Father's Day was celebrated in 1910, but it took over 60 years for the holiday to become official.
It was not until 1966 that President Lyndon B. Johnson made the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father's Day. This information is according to the American Presidency Project. Father's Day was made a permanent holiday and officially signed into law by President Richard Nixon in 1972.
Daddy, who was 85 when he passed away, worked hard throughout his life. He faced the challenges of working on high-powered lines during his forty-year career with Delta Electric Power Association in Winona and enjoyed serving the people of Carroll and Montgomery counties.
Daddy took care of mama and I; he was a great provider of all the years, 2016 was one of the most dangerous challenges. When he and mama were the victims of a home invasion that occurred in the house they built in 1954 in Carroll County. Shortly after that he began suffering from strokes and was bedridden for the remainder of his life. As a family we took care of him and provided for him through his recovery of having many strokes.
This Father’s Day we will honor our loved ones on Sunday and cherish the memories as we look to the scriptures.
"As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him," — Psalm 103:13
Ken Strachan serves as the mayor of North Carrollton and is a member of the Mississippi Municipal League board of directors.
