Valentine’s Day is special in Milwaukee and everywhere – especially for people in love
Editor’s Note: Due to space limitations in the Milwaukee Community Journal’s ‘Weekend Edition,’ we could not include this heart-warming article by freelance journalist Richard Carter about his parents, Sanford and Juanita […]
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Editor’s Note: Due to space limitations in the Milwaukee Community Journal’s ‘Weekend Edition,’ we could not include this heart-warming article by freelance journalist Richard Carter about his parents, Sanford and Juanita Carter, two prominent figures in Black Milwaukee back-in-the-day! We apologize for any inconvenience we may have caused those who follow Richard’s writings in our publications.
By Richard G. Carter
Ahh, Valentine’s Day. How do we love thee? Let me count the ways. That is, people in love, falling in love or thinking about love. February 14 — like the state of Virginia — is for lovers. Always was. Always will be.
Memories of this singular day — observed for St. Valentine and dedicated to choosing or complimenting sweethearts — are special to me and millions of others who agree that love makes the world go round. Of all our holidays and annual celebrations, perhaps none mixes fun and sentiment quite as well.
Everywhere you look on February 14, there are hearts and flowers and sweetness. Colorful cards and kisses are exchanged and love is in the air. Indeed, in a life chock-full of romance, candle-light dinners, scenic rendezvous and all manner of exciting romantic interludes, Valentine’s Day retains a unique place in my heart of hearts.
For example, my late Milwaukee father and mother — Sanford and Juanita Carter — were married on Valentine’s Day in 1934. But I really didn’t grasp the significance of this wonderful confluence of dates until their Silver Wedding Anniversary in 1959. And what a day it was.
Surrounded by a large number of their many friends in our home at 1817 N. 1st St., love was everywhere as my parents were presented with countless gifts of silver — including hundreds of silver dollars. Decorative red valentine hearts and cupids of all sizes were strewn throughout the big house, many festooned with silver dollars. It was happier and more joyous than any Christmas I’d ever known.
Perhaps my best memory of that occasion was listening starry-eyed as Mr. Carter — a great baseball player in the Negro Leagues — regaled the well-wishers with some of his exploits, including when he hit a triple off legendary Leroy “Satchel” Paige in Bismarck, North Dakota, in 1935. And then hearing some old-timers insisting that “Sandy Carter would have made the major leagues” if he’d come along a decade later.
For my folks’ Golden Anniversary, on Valentine’s Day in 1984, there was a huge celebration in the Grand Ballroom of the Marriott Inn in Brookfield, joined by some 300 well-wishers. Many of the same guests who’d gathered 25 years earlier came again. Lilting music was provided by Mantee Ellis, along with a stirring vocal by Veo Brazil.
In attendance were Mrs. Neil Moody – my mother’s sister and widow of Calvin C. Moody; family attorney Ted Crockett and his wife, Pat, and dear friends Susie Feaster, Jim Fields, Ernestine O’Bee and William Stark.
Other notable Milwaukeeans there included Circuit Judge Clarence Parrish and his wife, Mildred; Sixth District Alderman Marlene Johnson and her husband, Ben; former Mayor Frank P. Zeidler and his wife, Agnes; retired police detective Felmers O. Chaney, later to head the local NAACP; Mr. and Mrs. John Givens, Mr. and Mrs. Reuben Harpole; activist George F. Sanders, and Father Matthew Gottschalk, parish priest of Saint Francis and Saint Elizabeth Catholic churches.
As soon as the party ended, my wife, Janice, and I, took my folks — still in love at 72 and 73 — to Hawaii, for a vacation to end all vacations. And there’s nothing like Valentine’s Day, or a wedding, in that paradise.
Over the years, a number of people I know have been very fortunate to find love with a special man or woman, and keep it through thick and thin. Then there are some, like me who found love with the woman of my dreams, lost it, and found it again. Perhaps we are even more fortunate.
When true love appears, it’s usually because the time is right. Indeed, a man or a woman may be floundering — seeking direction and wondering what it will take to love and be loved. And then, out of nowhere it happens, and your heart soars. You find the love of your life. It’s happened to me, and I will be forever grateful.
Finally, Valentine’s is the birthday of late civil rights activist, Julian Bond — born February 14,1940. Who can forget when a youthful Bond burst upon the scene in the turbulent 1960s. As a Georgia state senator, he led a successful insurgent delegation to the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago and was the first Black person nominated for Vice President. A serious, loving man I remember on Valentine’s Day.
Those were the days, my Milwaukee friends, we thought they’d never end. Happy Valentine’s Day to all.
