In praise of honoring our fathers and embracing the day!
Father’s Day, celebrated on the third Sunday in June, falls on June 15 this year. Have you bought your tie yet?
Gifts were not always a part of the day dedicated to honoring dads. The first Father’s Day took place in 1910 and was primarily a religious holiday. It became a national holiday in 1972, when President Richard Nixon signed legislation making it official, but unlike the enthusiastic adoption of Mother’s Day, men initially eschewed the honor, thinking that being pampered made them appear weak. These days most fathers embrace the day.
Three Larchmont Chronicle readers shared stories with us in praise of their fathers.
Bonding over baseball: Jake Harris (left) with his father, Jim Harris.
Always shows up
“I think what makes my dad special is his unique ability to meet you where you are,” says Jake Harris of his father, Jim Harris, a recently retired lawyer and Hancock Park resident. “My dad is an intellectual at heart and loves to read and learn and understand. He and I discover information differently, but he figured out how I understand and process things. He would support the decision I was making even if it wasn’t the choice he would want for me. He allowed me to follow my passions.”
The firefighter with the Los Angeles Fire Dept. shares that his father always attended his Little League games, cheering him on through high school sports and even traveling to catch Jake’s college baseball games. “He’s silly and goofy and he’s fun,” Jake states, “But he’s serious when he needs to be, and he always shows up.”
“I have a really great relationship with my dad and I’m really grateful for how present he is.”
Dedicated to family
Yvonne Adams with her dad, Howard Kimbley Payne, in their Monrovia home, circa the mid-1940’s.
“My father’s name was Howard Kimbley Payne,” says Yvonne Adams. “He was born in 1899 in Kentucky.” She adds, “My father was a real serious dresser. He looked good. He had a straw hat in the summer, a wool hat in the winter.”
The Fairfax District resident’s father worked for the post office and bought some property after he moved to Monrovia. “My father was a very nice man. He was very dedicated to his family. He really took care of us and made sure we had the things we needed.” And the things they craved. “We would drive to Pasadena to go to See’s Candy, 50 cents a pound. We all had a sweet tooth except Daddy. If he wanted a snack at night, he made oatmeal. I hate oatmeal.”
When the retired special education teacher was accepted to university, she says, “My father was very proud of my going to UCLA and made sure that I got anything within reason to stay in school.” Since Black people were not allowed to live on campus in the 1950s, Adams explains, “I stayed at the ‘Y’ across the street. He always paid for me, everything in full.”
“I learned from my father to have a work ethic and to be a nice person.”
Kind, warm and loving
Birthday Dinner at Yamashiro for Joseph Schechter’s 90th birthday: (L-R) Laurie Schechter; her father, Joseph, her mom, Carolyn; and sister Nancy.
“My father was one of the kindest, warmest, most loving fathers and human beings that I have ever met,” states Laurie Schechter. “He was very affectionate, physically affectionate, always hugging. He would say ‘I love you’ all the time, so he was verbally affectionate. And he also expressed it in always wanting to help.”
Joseph Schechter, a psychiatric social worker, died in 2018, just shy of his 91st birthday. Laurie remembers that he always helped people by fixing things. When they rented a house in the Berkshires for the summer, her father would fix whatever was broken in the home, even though it belonged to someone else. The Mid-Wilshire resident adds, “When I moved into New York City I had a very tiny room. I needed a bed, so he made me a bed that was elevated and underneath I could put a desk.”
“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of him,” she says. “His love, warmth and kindness forever fill my heart.”
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