A devoted husband is celebrating Valentine’s Day by sending his beloved wife the same card he’s posted to her for the last 39 years.
Ken Myers, a self-confessed romantic, first sent the card which he’s been sending for the past 39 years, back in 1979, six years after he married his sweetheart, Valeria. Though the card remains the same, the 77-year-old novelist writes a new message inside the card every year – which is now full of little love notes from the past three decades. To make this even more romantic, Ken, from Leeds, created the card himself – as he used to work as a card designer back in the 1970s.
He said: ‘I worked in the industry for around ten years and designed hundreds of cards, for big companies like Hallmark. ‘I sent the card to Valerie in 1979, and then again in 1980. After that, I just carried on because it was a novelty. ‘I like to think I’m a romantic husband. I am a member of the Romantic Novelists Association, so I’m a qualified romantic. ‘I think Valerie would be disappointed if I came back one year with a different card. It’s become a family heirloom.’ Ken, who writes under the name Ken McCoy, has had 26 romantic and crime novels published, all set in Leeds in the 1940s and 50s. He is also a popular after-dinner speaker.
His card, which reads ‘Happy Valentine’s Day to my Wife’, shows a boy offering his beloved a heart tied to a catapult. Despite his romantic efforts, he and Valerie, who have five children, 12 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, will be celebrating Valentine’s day in a low key style, by simply having a meal and exchanging cards. Ken said: ‘My old card is brimming with messages but there’s room for many more. It’s got plenty of years left in it yet.’ Valerie, 67, added: ‘I do love the card and it’s become really special to me over the years. It’s in very good condition. ‘I always make sure it’s in a safe place. One year, I put it in such a safe place that I couldn’t find for a while afterwards.
‘Ken is a very romantic husband. After almost 45 years of marriage, those little touches definitely help to keep the magic alive.’ Valerie says the secret to a long and happy marriage is to ‘be friends’. She said: ‘When the first flushes of love disappear you have to like each other a lot. We make each other laugh.
