Former Kerrville Rotarian Crystal Dockery was the emcee for our annual Valentine Day's program, as she has done for a number of years. She provided some tidbits of Valentine history and our spending habits celebrating this day.
* Two hundred and fifty million roses are grown each year for Valentine's Day.
* One hundred and forty five million cards are given each year.
* 23.9 billion was spent last year for Valentine's.
* 80 million Hershy's kissies are made each year.
* 6 million couples get engaged on Valentine's Day each year.
*There are four states with a town named Valentine: Texas, Nebraska, Arizona and Virginia.
Crystal introduced three members of our club, who told how they met their sweetheart.
Carolyn Northcutt and her husband Mike were both widows, and found love because of winter storm Uri. Mike was a pastor, and had lost power to his home during the big storm of 2021. Carolyn knew Mike from before, and offered him her extra bedroom while he was without a place to stay. They got to know each other better, and when it came time for him to move out, he asked Carolyn to marry him, and the rest is history.
John Forister and his wife Judy met in elementary school, and eventually dated in college at UT. John was working in Houston after college, while Judy was working as a teacher in Austin. They burned up the road commuting back and forth until they got married. After honeymooning in Estes Park, Colorado, they settled in Houston working and raising the two daughters, and eventually retired and moved to Kerrville in 2007. They will celebrate 57 years of marraige this June.
Gregg Appel met his wife Carolee in college. They first met when Gregg's roommate brought Carolee to their apartment one morning. Although the details of that morning are lost to history, she thought he might be the one. They eventually met again later, and their first date was country and western dancing, and then to a formal together a couple of weeks later. That was forty years ago, and they are happliy married and have four grown children
