DANA PERINO: Five important lessons from my father for every proud girl dad

Well, this is a first for me: Father’s Day without my father, Leo E. Perino.

My dad died in his sleep at the end of May 2026, just 29 days after retiring. He was 79. The guy loved to work. And he loved his daughters. He was a wonderful girl father to two girls.

Friends of mine who are now girl dads amaze me. I think they’re very good at raising their daughters, so they don’t need advice from me. But here are five things my dad did that made a difference in my life and played a role in my success and happiness.

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1. Early and consistent reinforcement of equality. Angie, my younger sister, and I were born in the 1970s. That was the beginning of the "girl power" movement. My dad never preached about equality. He just lived it. He regularly and consistently told us that girls could do anything they wanted to do, and that we didn’t have to set our goals short of the top just because we were female. So, we grew up not ever thinking that. He said we could go far, and we did. I recall having this ugly yellow T-shirt that said, "Anything boys can do, girls can do better." I wore it all the time — perhaps like today’s friendship bracelets, a little reminder that gets planted in your brain over time so that you believe in yourself.

2. Education and reading — a priority. I learned to read pretty early in life and devoured books. In third grade, he started a tradition with me where I had to read The Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post before he got home from work, pick out two articles, and be prepared to discuss them. For years, we loved to discuss the news. He subscribed to every weekly magazine, too. We’d dog-ear pages for each other and share them. From that start, I’ve never stopped reading the news. But he wasn’t just teaching me to read the news. He was teaching me to think.

3. Get them talking. One thing I’ve paid attention to as a mentor to young women is their ability to articulate their thoughts in a smart way and with a confident voice. That takes instruction and practice. My dad got me talking about the news and politics early on. He’d listen, challenge, lightly debate, and then affirm. This made me more comfortable doing so in front of future bosses, including the leader of the free world, and later on to massive audiences that loyally watch Fox News Channel. Dads who pay attention to this aspect of their daughters’ development will be rewarded with a more confident young woman in the future.

4. Faith. My sister and I used to argue on Saturdays about which church service we’d go to on Sundays. I wanted the 8:30 a.m., so that we could go to church and Sunday school and still be home in time to watch the Sunday shows. My sister couldn’t care less about those shows, but she did love to go to church with me. My mom and dad helped raise us with good values and a belief in a higher power, which has sustained us in our recent grief and added to our joys.

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5. Leading without judgment. After graduate school, I realized I’d just gotten a degree in something I didn’t want to do. Initially, my plan was to pursue a career in local news. I felt like I’d failed, wasted time and money, and I was afraid to call my dad. But when I did, he just said, "That’s great. We’ll just drive you back here after graduation and you’ll figure it out." I was so relieved. I remember that car ride, especially the long stretch through the cornfields in Kansas listening to the country music station on the radio.

My sister had a similar memory. When she made a major life decision in her mid-twenties, she went to him first and he said, "How can I help?" He didn’t ask how or why — he was just there. To be a dad your daughters can run to, no matter their age, without being scared they’ll be judged — well, there’s no greater comfort. A good father does not just protect his daughters from the world. He becomes a safe place when the world is too much.

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My dad died in his sleep. At his bedside was his copy of Purple State, bookmarked on page 289. He had forty more pages to go. That crushed me, until a friend said that meant he read the Green Bay Packers scene, and that was his favorite.

So, my dad didn’t get to read the end. But we got to experience his. And it was a happy ending, after all.

Thanks, Dad.

And to all the girl dads out there — we appreciate you.

You matter more than you can ever know.