Texas has lots of towns with amazing names. There is even a town called Cool. And Cut and Shoot. And Valentine. Yes, Valentine. How amazing is that? Especially if it’s February.
The story goes that the Southern Pacific railroad crew building the line eastward in 1882 finished laying track as far as a place where a water and fuel depot needed to be built. It happened to be Valentine’s Day. So they named the place Valentine. (There is also a possibility that it was named after Southern Pacific shareholder John Valentine, who was president of Wells Fargo, but that isn’t nearly as much fun.)
Valentine, to give you the coordinates, lies exactly halfway between L.A. and New Orleans, almost exactly 1,000 miles from each. Or, if you want something more local, halfway between Marfa and Van Horn, in Jeff Davis County west of Fort Davis. Deep in the heart of West Texas.
Valentine never grew very much. The sign at the town limits says 217, but the mayor there, Jesus Calderon (who goes by Chuy), says the number is now closer to 180. Chuy has been mayor for 40 years, which might be some kind of record for mayoral longevity in Texas. Besides being mayor, he taught for decades in the Valentine Independent School District and even worked part-time for many years as the local FedEx delivery driver. Nobody knows Valentine like Chuy. He says there is no gas station, no ATM, and no crime.
The K–12 school has about 40 students. Some years, only five or six students graduate from high school. One recent year, only two graduated. Think about that. If you’re the lower-ranked of the two, you’re simultaneously in the bottom 50% of your class AND the salutatorian. Lisa Morton, who grew up there and is the editor-in-chief of the Van Horn Advocate, says her sister graduated all by herself. I said that must have been lonely, and she replied, “Oh no, the whole town came to celebrate her big day.” You have to love small towns.
And here’s another incredible statistic Chuy told me when I spoke with him a few years ago: With only about 10 boys in the high school that year, he said two of them were named Elvis. So they joked that they could never be sure that “Elvis had left the building” unless they left together.
Well, the town isn’t so small that it doesn’t have a post office. And in February, they’re as busy as Santa’s elves on Christmas Eve. At this time of year, they receive thousands of cards that are mailed onward with the Valentine postmark. (There is also a Valentine in Nebraska and a Valentines in Virginia that do the same thing.) The cards come to Texas from all over the United States and from as many as 30 foreign countries. One year, they postmarked and sent one to the White House for Chelsea Clinton.
Every year, the school holds a design contest, and the winning “love logo” is used for that year’s postmark. Imagine that. You can send your valentine a Valentine’s card from Valentine. It couldn’t be more romantic! Unless, of course, you take your valentine to Valentine on February 14. Chuy says they hold a big party every year, Valentine’s in Valentine, sponsored by Big Bend Brewing Co. of nearby Alpine. One year, Jerry Jeff Walker performed. The year before, Joe Ely was there and played his famous song “Saint Valentine.” Another year, 2017, Little Joe y La Familia was the headliner.
That year, Valentine’s Day fell on a Tuesday, and there was pressure to move it to the weekend, but as Mahala Guevara, vice president of operations at Big Bend Brewing, explained in the official flyer: “West Texas has never been known for convenience; to enjoy the best the region has to offer, you have to be willing to work for it. And your hard work will be rewarded with great Texas music...” You have to love that. A work ethic woven into leisure time. A very Texan concept.
Big Bend Brewing even brewed a special beer for the event called Total Commitment. At 14.2% alcohol, it is aptly named. Just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes.
But really, Valentine strikes me as a good place for romance. At night under a full moon, half the sky turns to gold. Even on moonless nights, the stars are so bright that you can see a hint of your shadow. Beneath a sky like that, you slip into a gentle silence.
