Valentine’s Day‘ Memories

— Compiled by Forrest Preece

We decided to ask some West Austinites to reminisce about their favorite Valentine’s Days. Here are their answers:

My daughter gives me handmade Valentines. A few years ago Amazon was stamping flowers that you could cut out on some of their cardboard shipping boxes. Catherine cut them out, saved them and put them in tiny clay pots and gave me a “garden” of these pots for my Valentine’s gift. It’s nice to have clever children.

— Jessie Otto Hite

Ha! We decided on a new tradition this year. We gathered some Highland Park parents, got a sitter for all the kiddos and they had Pinthouse Pizza and V-Day Cupcakes. All the adults had a quadruple date and fancy pizza at Bufalina.

— Kate Wallace

My dad, Brian Newberry, ordered the Russell Stover candy for the store. And every year he would order one huge $100 box of chocolates. He would always wager on when it would sell. Inevitably it happened on February 14th. Dad always joked that it was the poor guy who completely forgot the holiday, and felt so bad that he’d spend $100 on that huge box of candy! We don’t do that anymore but card sales on February 13th and 14th are far beyond any other day leading up to Valentine’s Day.

— Blair Newberry, Director of Retail Operations, Tarrytown Pharmacy

By Alana Moehring Mallard

Kay and Charles Finnell renewed their wedding vows on Feb. 12 in a Sunday afternoon ceremony officiated by The Rev. Terry Gleeson of Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd. Kay and Charles repeated the sacred wedding vows they first said in 1981.

Kay Fitzpatrick and Charles Finnell married on Feb. 12, 1981, in Austin at St. David’s Episcopal Church in the historic 1845 Chapel. As a new bride, Kay continued working as the administrative assistant to the Admiral’s Club of Austin. Charles was serving in the Texas House, representing 13 northwest Texas counties. Both had graduated from the University of Texas.

Charles, a native of Holliday in northwest Texas, served in the Texas House of Representatives from 1966 to 1999, and during that time Kay was a member of the Legislative Ladies Club, including her service as president of the organization. Her service to the Admiral’s Club of Austin continued for 30 years from 1978 to 2008. Kay is a native of Austin, and attended Casis Elementary, O. Henry Junior High, and Austin High.

The Finnells, of Eastledge Drive in West Austin, continue to remain active in Admiral’s Club of Austin and as members of Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd.

One of the most memorable Valentines we had recently was an event at the Elisabet Ney Museum right before the pandemic. The three of us are always taken by the love she had for her work and what a pioneer she was.

— Rachel Wyatt

As high school sweethearts, during my senior year Ryan had gone off to college so we weren’t going to be able to see each other on Valentine’s Day. Not wanting me to feel left out, he had his dad deliver my Valentine to school. I was called down to the office (and as a student who never got in trouble had a very nervous minute!) to be given a giant teddy bear, roses, and at least a dozen balloons. There were so many balloons a few teachers even asked if I was selling them!

— Laura Coaxum

We used to have a Valentines ritual when we were first together and had absolutely no money. We would wear vintage Valentine pajamas, splurge on our favorite foods that we could afford (strawberries, chocolate, rare roast beef and champagne) … and then we would pop in a video tape (!) and watch a movie. Now, we celebrate with our kids.

— Gail Chovan