Valentines Day 1950’s Style

I know what you’ve been thinking about this morning—Valentines Day. Some of you that are my age have thought about the Valentines parties at school when you were a kid. A good portion of the school afternoon was spent eating cookies, cupcakes and sometimes cake. These delicious treats were baked by room mothers and decorated in Valentines Day fashion. I remember that my mother was a room mother. I can’t remember there being any bakeries where I lived, and I’m pretty sure the grocery stores in the 1950’s didn’t sell bakery items. So the room mothers had to be able to make the cakes, cookies, cupcakes and decorate them.

Just about every student decorated Valentines boxes to hold the Valentines they were given by their classmates. Most of the time a prize was given for the best Valentines box. Now a second or third grade boy could not make a decent Valentines box. If a boy brought a pretty Valentines box you could bet the farm that his mother did it for him. I imagine that the girls had a lot of help as well. At some point students were told to deliver their Valentines to the proper box. Our Valentines were those cute little ones with some silly Valentines greeting spoken by a male and female chipmunk or some other kind of cute animals. They came from the dime store usually in a package that held more than enough for all the students in the class.

Me and my little Chipmonk

For me that was a long time ago; I guess it was 64 years ago when my Valentines school parties began. To this day I can remember things about some of those parties. The first one I remember was in Mrs. Graham’s second grade class which must have been 1955, and I remember something about the rest up to the last one in Mrs. Forgy’s fifth grade class. How funny that is that I can remember some of those events, and now I have a hard time remembering if I have taken my medicine for the day. A few times I’ve taken it twice. It’s a wonder I’m still alive.

Speaking of dying, Sherri and I have been putting off making plans for our deaths. We have gone back and forth between cremation or burial. If we decide to be buried we must decide where to be buried. I thought about being brought back to the town where I enjoyed those Valentines parties. But if I decide to be buried my body will have to be flown over six hundred miles from Raleigh to Nashville and then driven on to Lewisburg. I asked Sherri if she thought our skymiles would cover the tab for a cargo ticket. After that Sherri decided that we should just be buried in Wake Forest. I guess that’s best. With my luck I will outlive all of my old friends in Logan County Kentucky, and there would be no one left to attend my graveside service anyway. Oh well, I wish everyone a very happy Valentines Day! Kisses and hugs y’all!