+ Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Helen an Oliver Tate loav5 the church alter saying “l do” on
Sept. 12, 1948.
The History of
Valentine's Day
Every February candy, flowers, and gifts
are exchanged between loved ones, all in
the name of St. Valentine. But who is this
mysterious saint and why do we celebrate
this holiday? The history of Valentine's Day
— and its patron saint — is shrouded in
mystery. But we do know that February has
long been a month of romance. St. Valen-
tine's Day, as we know it today, contains
vestiges of both Christian and ancient
that is still in use today.
While some believe that Valentine's Day is
celebrated in the middle of February to com-
memorate the anniversary of Valentine's
death or burial others claim that the Chris-
tian church may have decided to celebrate
Valentine's feast day in the middle of Febru-
ary in an effort to ‘christianize' celebrations of
the pagan Lupercalia festival.
In ancient Rome, February was the official
beginning of spring and was considered a
time for purification. Houses were ritually
cleansed by sweeping them out and then
sprinkling salt and a type of wheat called
The Kings Mountain Herald
TATES: hold Valentine tradition reading love letters
FROM Page 1
censored. Helen joined
Oliver in Cheyenne for a por-
tion of his last tour of duty.
She said she hoped to never
see a blizzard like the bliz-
zard of 1949 in Cheyenne,
Wyoming.
The love letters, tied with
a yellow ribbon, were a con-
versation piece at the cou-
ple’s 40th and 50th
anniversary parties. Friends
wanted to read them but
Oliver said “no
Both agree that the secret -
of a happy marriage involves
lots of “give and take and
love.”
| “We've got a good mar-
riage,” said Oliver, adding
some of the words of the
hymn, “Amazing Grace,” in
the verse that applies: “grace
has brought us safe thus far
and grace will lead us home.”
After returning home
from service Tate attended
textile school on the GI Bill
and passed a postal examina-
tion.
Tate retired from the
Kings Mountain Post Office
Aug. 1, 1988 after 37 years:
and four months. His first job
on March 1, 1951 was dis-
patching mail, delivering it
by truck downtown and re-
laying it to carriers. At the re-
tirement of Luco Falls, he
was the mailman on the city
carrier route for a number of
years and then completed his
“career as a rural carrier on
route 4, the Dixon and Beth-
lehem communities, deliver-
ing mail to 650 boxes.
“We sorted the mail in a
much different way by case
in a sequence of numbers,”
Tate explained. There were
few house numbers. Tate was
on a first name basis with his
customers. “I knew the peo-
ple on my routes,” he said.
Kings Mountain native
Oliver is the son of the late
Brooks and Leola Tate. His
“two brothers- Gene Tate and
Fred Tate, also served in the
USAF and Fred also retired
from ‘the Kings Mountain
Post Office as a rural carrier.
Born in Gaffney, SC,
woman. These matches often ended in mar-
riage.
notes.
The oldest known valentine still in existence
today was a poem written by Charles, Duke
of Orleans in 1415 to his wife while he was
imprisoned in the Tower of London following
his capture at the Battle of Agincourt.
In Great Britain, Valentine's Day began to
be popularly celebrated around the seven-
teenth century. By the middle of the eigh-
teenth century, it was common for friends
and lovers in all social classes to exchange
small tokens of affection or handwritten
Helen moved to Kings
Mountain with her parents,
Howard and Beunah Robbs
at age 10. Both she and
Oliver were members of the
Class of 1947 at Kings
Mountain High School.
Helen retired from Mauney
Hosiery after 22 years. They
Page 5A
Tate, Brad Tate, all of Kings
Mountain, and Lynn Tate
Yates of Dallas; three grand-
children and four great-
grandchildren.
Valentine’s Day on Mon-
day is the one day out of the
year when we get to show
those we care about how
[Valentines Day Special
Roman tradition.
One legend contends that Valentine was a
priest during the third century in Rome.
When Emperor Claudius I decided that sin-
gle men made better soldiers than those
with families, he outlawed marriage for
‘young men. Valentine defied Claudius and
continued to perform marriages for young
lovers in secret. When Valentine's actions
were discovered, Claudius ordered that he
be put to death
According to one legend, Valentine actually
sent the first 'valentine' greeting himself.
While in prison, it is believed that Valentine
fell in love with a young girl — possibly his
jailor's daughter — who visited him during
his confinement. Before his death, it is al-
~leged that he wrote her a letter, which he
signed ‘From your Valentine, an expression
Featured gifts for your
Valentine including fresh
13 solTH
HISTORIC DOWNTOWN KINGS MOUNTAIN
spelt throughout their interiors. Lupercalia,
which began at the ides of February, Febru-
ary 15, was a fertility festival dedicated to
Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as
well as to the Roman founders Romulus and
Remus.
The boys sliced goat's hide into strips,
dipped them in the sacrificial blood and took
to the streets, gently slapping both women
and fields of crops with the goathide strips.
Far from being fearful, Roman women wel
comed being touched with the hides be-
cause it was believed the strips would make
them more fertile in the coming year. Later in
the day, according to legend, all the young
women in the city would place theirnames in
.a big um. The city's bachelors would thén
. each choose a name out of the um and.be-
come paired for the year with his chosen
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By the end of the century, printed cards
began to replace written letters due to im-
provements in printing technology. Ready-
made cards were an easy way for people fo
express their emotions in a time when direct
expression of one's feelings was discour-
aged. Americans probably began exchang-
ing hand-made valentines in the early
1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland
began to sell the first mass-produced valen-
tines in America.
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are active members of First
Baptist Church. -
Family is priority for the
Tates who have four chil-
dren: Gloria Tate Hardin, Jim
JOYRIDE: ends after
31 mailboxes are beaten
FROM Page 1
Police questioned the boys and called their parents about
the property damage on East Ridge Street, Sherwood Lane,
Sharon Drive and Cloninger Street. In several of the inci-
dents, mailboxes were smashed on both sides of a street.
“Their enjoyment (if that’s what it was) is not enjoyment
for these property owners,” said Johnson. He added that
“when juvenile charges come forth these boys will face their
day in court.”
He said that Juvenile Services will determine the charges
the suspects will face.
much they mean to us.
Obviously for Helen and
Oliver Tate love lasts all year
long, not only on Valentine's
Day.
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