McHenry County Blog

This is a Valentine from God taken from John 3:16.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  John 3:16.  Found in the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake in 2009.

So, you’re in trouble.

This magnificant six-inch crystal bowl has ground indentations that remind me of shapes I used to use a ball pern hammer to decorate copper ashtrays and dishes. The cost in Crystal Lake is about $70. At the State of Illinois Museum stores in Chicago and Springfield, the mark-up doubles the price.

You haven’t gotten your wife or girlfriend something for Valentine’s Day that she would consider extra special.

The 8-inch bowl that will be in the center of the table.

Location of Kurt Strobach's home. Click to enlarge.

May I suggest going to the showroom of Crystal Lake’s (Illinois’) master crystal cuter, Kurt Strobach?

Last night my bride offered a hint.

She said she wanted another 6-inch bowl to put with the one she had now and a larger one on our dining room table, but she wanted a different design.

Guess where my son and I went after school.

Strobach operates out of his home at 855 Teverton, which is at the northeast corner of Coventry near Virginia Street Road and Pyott Road.

Give him a call first at 815-459-7377.

There are more photos here.

And you don’t have to limit the presents to Valentine’s Day.

How about her birthday, Mother’s Day, Christmas, your anniversary?

Lowney's Fruit & Nut Chocolates box. In the lower right corner are the words, "A Crest Package."

I finally opened a Lowney’s Fruit & Nut Chocolates box that contained Valentines and Christmas Cards that I thought my grandmother Addie Watling-Skinner had saved.

Upon closer inspection, I discovered my mother, Eleanor Stevens Skinner, had save the contents.

I knew there were Valentines in there, but I also found Christmas cards, her acceptance letter from Washington College, cards and letters from boys from West Point, Trinity College in Connecticut and Catonsville, Maryland.  Courting by letter is a lot different from doing so by phone or texting, I would imagine.  The letters showed fear of rejection, that’s for sure.

None were from my father.  My guess he was too busy working his way through college, holding jobs of egg candling in a market in Southwest Washington that still has a commercial use and a warehouse in the same area on a main highway.  He did have a car though and attended the University of Maryland, so maybe his courting was in person after Mother took a job teaching on the Western Shore.

It appears my mother was on more than one college boy’s mind.

The Valentine was a complicated one of embossed thin cardboard. This bird was attached by the paper tag at the bottom behind the part that says, "To My Valentine." You can see where below. The bird's image is approximately to scale compared to the rest of the card below.

Her one-time farm neighbor, Calvin LeRoy Skinner, was the winner in the marriage stakes.

A cherub seems to be hammering rings on top of the card.

But, not until I was driving him around Queen Anne’s County, Maryland, while he was being treated for lung cancer (from cigarettes, of course) did I even learn that.  Roy, his tenant-farmer father had rented the land next to the Stevens’ family farm near Barclay for a while when they were both in the same class at Sudlersville High School.

You can see the windmill used behind the more ornate stamped images in front.

I can’t be certain that this Valentine is from my father to my mother.  It is “To Eleanor…From Guess Who…Calvin W.”

If this is not from my father, I wonder who "Calvin W." was.

My Dad’s middle initial was “L.”  So, what’s with the “W?”

Did she know two “Calvins?”

This one was found on a bulletin board in the children’s corridor of the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake.

It’s in the shape of a heart.

Centered in the heart are a series of nine little hearts that spell

The “V” is from the word “love”
in “For God so loved the world.”

The “a” is from the word “gave”
in “that he gave.”

The “l” is from the word “only”
in “his only begotten son.”

The letter “a” is from the word “whoever”
in “that whoever.”

The “n” is from the word “in”
in “believes in Him.”

The “t” comes from the word “not”
in “should not.”

The “i” is from the word “perish”
in “perish from the earth.”

The “n” comes from the word “everlasting.”
Just one word in that line.

The “e” is from the word “life,”
also a one word line.

John 3:16, a valentine

Click to enlarge.

This one was found on a bulletin board in the children’s corridor of the First United Methodist Church of Crystal Lake.

It’s in the shape of a heart.

Centered in the heart are a series of nine little hearts that spell

The “V” is from the word “love”
in “For God so loved the world.”

The “a” is from the word “gave”
in “that he gave.”

The “l” is from the word “only”
in “his only begotten son.”

The letter “a” is from the word “whoever”
in “that whoever.”

The “n” is from the word “in”
in “believes in Him.”

The “t” comes from the word “not”
in “should not.”

The “i” is from the word “perish”
in “perish from the earth.”

The “n” comes from the word “everlasting.”
Just one word in that line.

The “e” is from the word “life,”
also a one word line.

John 3:16, a valentine

Click to enlarge.