BLUFFTON, Ohio — How long are you planning on holding onto the Valentine's Day cards your kids brought home from school Monday.
A week?
A month?
How about 80 years?
When Kelly Foster, who is the public services coordinator at the Bluffton Public Library, was working with her sisters to help their parents move into a local nursing home recently, the family made a discovery in an old cigar box.
They found nearly pristine Valentine's Day cards given to their father, Ralph Gerber, when he was growing up in the 1940s.
Kelly says she couldn't believe how well preserved the cards were. They even survived a trip across the country twice after the family moved to California and then returned to Ohio.
"To have them travel from Ohio to California, and then come back to Ohio in that condition in that cigar box, yeah we're baffled," Foster said.
Kelly decided, with her dad's permission, to put the valentines on display in the library to help celebrate the holiday.
And the blast from the past for many visitors has helped build connections between the various generations who see them.
"It really tugs into memories of older generations. We've had a lot of grandparents talking with their grandchildren about the valentines, so it's been really nice to see the community coming together that way," said Library Director Jessica Hermiller.
"I think it's just remembering the good times and families, and what they represent. In researching some of them with the war effort. So there are some certain ones with the war effort that they were specifically doing just to help the community and lift people's spirits up in the '40s." Foster said.
Kelly says her father is thrilled with all of the positive feedback the display is receiving, but is looking forward to getting these keepsakes back.
"Being able to look at the old memories and remember them and enjoy them again, he's really enjoyed," Foster said.
And these vintage Valentine's Day cards will be on display at the Bluffton Public Library through the end of the month of February.