The old Valentine and the old buffet
by
Nannie Carrico
The year was Feb. 14, 1938. My husband Fred Carrico and I had been married only eight months. It was our first Valentines Day together. I decided to go to town and buy my sweetheart a nice valentine while he was at work piling lumber for Leanard Cardiff.
I wondered into the ol’ Propst Five and Dime store. There I found just the one I was looking for. I was young and silly back then and I thought this valentine was sure a dilly. It only cost a dime and it said “To my Charming Valentine”. You just don’t see Valentines like this one any more. In fact they aren’t seen in any store.
As time blew by I thought I had misplaced the old Valentine, as it wasn’t anywhere to be found until sometime later in the month of May, my dear Mother in-law passed away. My husband and I ended up with her beautiful old buffet. One day as I was looking in that old buffet, there it was, the Valentine that is now 70 years old. And it was almost like I had found a big pot of gold.
Every year around Valentines Day I bring it out for others to see, the old Valentine so special to me. Then after the day is gone I put it back in the old buffet, where it will be kept safe and sound until the next year comes around.
Pictured top: A photo of 70-year-old card, first given to Nannie’s late husband, Fred Carrico on February 14, 1938.
Pictured right: Nannie Carrico tells her story at the Senior Mealsite of the 70 year old Valentine she gave to her late husband in 1938. Pictured (left to right) Feb. 12 as Nannie tells her story: Deryl Ketchum, President, Clearwater County Senior Citizens, Nannie Carrico, and Nellie Chase, Committee Chair, Orofino Senior Mealsite.