In 1889, when Sonora was seven years old, the Smart family moved from Marion, Arkansas, to a farm west of Spokane, Washington between Creston and Wilbur.
[7] In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed a presidential proclamation declaring the third Sunday of June as Father's Day.
In 1972, President Nixon established a permanent national observance of Father's Day to be held on the 3rd Sunday of June each year.
Besides her advocacy for Father's Day, Dodd was also active in the Spokane chapter of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
[8] In the 1920s, Dodd spent some time away from Spokane, studying at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, painting, writing poetry, and working in fashion design in Hollywood.