Thursday, February 14, 2013

The Love Box Tradition

The Original Love Box that little Vermont sent to her big brother, Alfred in 1985
Valentine’s Day is now upon us! This is the time of year when department stores make millions (if not billions) on Valentine cards, chocolate and all the pink and red stuff you find in special aisles devoted to this time of year. With nothing exciting happening around Riverville, New York (unless you think “Mr. Mill Wins Local Pie Contest” is exciting) , I thought today’s story should be a tribute to a very special moment in history – in 1985, the year the very first Love Box was shipped across the world. It was February, so naturally, everyone was getting ready for Valentine’s and a little 9-year old girl named Vermont Greene (who “coincidentally” lived in Vermont) wanted to send her 21-year old brother, Alfred Greene who was fighting in Afghanistan, a special valentine to cheer him up. She wanted to send something special, something that would be remembered but something that wouldn’t tear up so easily. She decided on a cute little wooden box with a few Valentine things inside. So she and her parents went to the local carpentry shop where a friend of the family, Philip Woodward worked and asked him to handcraft a little box so Vermont could send it to her brother. Philip took on the assignment and made a 4x5 box shaped like a heart that said, “I love you!” on the front. So Vermont sent her little box from Vermont all the way to Afghanistan. Pretty soon, a lot of Alfred’s co-workers were getting a little jealous because they only got cards for Valentine’s Day. Since it isn’t wise to have jealous friends, Alfred went to a local craftsman and had him make a counterfeit box so he could occasionally rent the box to his friends so they could have it for a while (he didn’t want to use the box his sister gave him because then it wouldn’t be very special). He found that by putting perfume on the box, he could charge it for a little more than usual. Next year, in the February of 1986, the war was won and one of Alfred’s friends, Timmy Greenwell wanted to send a “Love Box” to his girlfriend named Maggie Pitworth, so as you can imagine, it started catching on. Then some of Maggie’s friends got a little jealous because their boyfriends only sent cards so she started the renting thing as well. Now the boxes were starting to catch on a lot! The idea was made known nationally by William Sty, who did much to promote these Love Boxes and that’s what they are called today, as the tradition continues. Today, people will stuff these little wood boxes with a card, chocolates and other things and ship them to their lovers. But it all started with a little girl named Vermont who wanted to cheer up her brother. So why not go down to the store, or better yet, your local craftsman and get a Love Box and share it with someone you love?

From all of us here at Smiley’s News: HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Written by: Mr. Smiley
Photographer: Daniel P. Smithwater
Edited by: Christian Ryan

*Advertisement*

We here at Smiley’s News, I have been working night and day to get articles ready. I could really use some help! So we are looking for people interested in writing (especially kids and teens). If you are interested, PLEASE(!) send an email to animaladventures@aol.com and save me from working night and day! I’m exhausted!


Weekly Cartoons




Next Issue: The Missing Love Vase Case pt. 2

No comments:

Post a Comment