HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) – Dedicated, dependable and determined were just a few words families used to describe their dads this Father’s Day.
Even men who were new to fatherhood said the feeling of being a dad was unmatched.
“This is my first Father’s Day and it’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” Seth Pierce said. “Just being a dad.”
Seth Pierce was one of three generations of Pierce fathers who met in Hattiesburg Sunday for family dinner after travelling from different parts of Mississippi.
“That’s what Father’s Day means to me, getting together and just enjoying the day with your father,” said Chris Pierce, Seth’s father.
.”And I’m thankful my father is still here to do that.”
The eldest Pierce father, Willie Pierce, said although his family takes the holiday seriously, other fathers and their families may not.
“Fathers Day is the number 20th-ranked holiday in the world,” Willie Pierce said, “I think it would be great if all fathers would improve and get our numbers up. Halloween is number six. We need to get above Halloween.”
Some families traded a day at the dinner table for a day of fun to honor their fathers.
“We’re going to have a good time (Sunday) at this new water park, said April McClendon, “We brought our husbands and we’re going out to eat later with our fathers. It means a lot because they do so much for us. We’re just here to celebrate them.”
The Cooley family, from Waynesboro, was especially grateful this Father’s Day after doctors said Ladarius Cooley wouldn’t survive his injuries from a car crash.
“It’s pretty emotional,” Cooley said. “I’m just thanking God, because like my mother said in a text this morning, she could’ve been visiting a gravesite.”
Cooley spent 38 days in the hospital with several, life-threatening injuries.
“I’ve never had a Father’s Day so special as (Sunday) because, like he said, it could’ve been the other way around,” said Ladarius Cooley’s wife, Shalaria Cooley, “He’s a great dad to his kids.”
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