HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!
(Recipe: Apple Blueberry Pie)

He didn't tell me how to live; he lived, and let me watch him do it.
-C.B Kelland

I had no idea when or how Father’s Day began, so I did a little research. Perhaps this is something you did not know either.

Father's Day started in 1910 and is credited to Sonora Smart Dodd from Spokane.

The story is that she got the idea while listening to a Mother's Day sermon in church. The June holiday is recognized for being the birth month of Dodd's own father, who raised six children after their mother died in childbirth.

The event received almost immediate support, including that from William Jennings Bryan, President Woodrow Wilson and later by President Calvin Coolidge, who recommended it for national holiday in 1924. It wasn't until 62 years after its origin that it became a national holiday by President Richard Nixon.

It could be debated that the holiday started as early as July 5, 1908, when Grace Golden Clayton suggested to her Fairmont, WV congregation that the 250 fathers killed, including her own, in the nearby Monangah Miners Disaster in December of 1907, be honored.

Because of the many events that take place within the same holiday timeframe, this event was not promoted well. It didn't pick up momentum or gain awareness outside of Clayton's community to catapult into the modern holiday that we celebrate today.

The white and red rose was made the official flowers for Father's Day celebration. While the white rose commemorated gratitude for a father, who was deceased, a red rose expressed thankfulness to one, who was living.

And now you know!

To all dads everywhere, thank you for your part in providing for your family. You are the tower of strength to your wife and children – at least my husband has been for our family – thank you. God bless each of you.

"The greatest gift I ever had
Came from God, and I call him Dad!"
~~Author Unknown.

Apple Blueberry Pie

3/4 c sugar
3 tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. salt
5 C. apples, peeled and sliced
1 C. blueberries, fresh if possible
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 unbaked double pastry shell (or make your own pie crust)
2 tbsp margarine
Double-Crust Pastry for 9" pie

In a large bowl, stir together sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add apples, blueberries and lemon juice; toss to evenly coat the fruit.

Turn into pastry lined 9" pie plate. Dot with margarine. Add top crust; seal and flute edge. Bake in a 425 degree oven until crust is browned and filling is bubbly.