Some serendipity recently landed in our lap among our team at the Mill Valley Chamber.
One of our colleagues, Danna Lewis, had another colleague share among her team a post from a woman named Cyd Crouse, noting that she grew up in Valentine, Nebraska and many people would mail Valentine’s letters there.
Crouse posted an image from one from 1936 and it originated from Mill Valley!!!
“Today (then Valentine’s Day) has always held a special meaning of not just romantic love but the love that can live within a small community,” Crouse wrote. “The town is known for people sending mail there so it can be postmarked from Valentine on Valentine’s Day (something Loveland, Colorado is also famous for., as well as custom Valentine’s Day cards. Here is one from 1936 (credit to the Charlotte Ladd Collection archives.”
“So cool,” Lewis said. “Would be fun to track down that family.”
Lucky for us, Mill Valley boasts one of the best historical organizations in the Bay Area, and Natalie Snoyman, the supervising archivist at the Lucretia Little History Room within the Mill Valley Public Library, got to work.
Snoyman’s research unveiled some fantastic details. “I did find a bit of information about O.E. Lovett and wanted to share,” Snoyman writes. “I believe the O in O.E. is for Oren. It looks like he was heavily involved in the local schools, acting as the President of the Board of Education. It is possible, though, that it is Oren E. Lovett, Jr.! I’ve attached a few articles about each, as well as the 1940 census which lists both Oren and Oren, Jr. at the 270 E Blithedale address.
Snoyman also found a newspaper piece about the marriage of “Louise Anderson and Oren E. Lovett Jr., who were married in Reno on Thursday, October 19, by the Rev. Eickelberg. The bride has resided in Mill Valley for 18 months, being employed at Marinship. She was formerly in charge of Kay’s Gift Shop in Fairbanks, Alaska. She has a daughter who attends Tamalpais High School. The groom, who is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Oren E. Lovett of 268 East Blithedale Ave., has lived in Mill Valley since 1916. He is a graduate of Tamalpais High School. He enlisted in the Navy and after a year’s service received an honorable discharge. He is now employed at Marinship.”
The Mill Valley Library’s installments of Mapping Mill Valley History, a collaboration between the MV Chamber and the MV Public Library‘s Lucretia Little History Room in which residents get to tour familiar streets and buildings and see how they have evolved over the years, span the O’Shaughnessy Building at 59-67 Throckmorton Avenue, currently home to the sleek home goods store Prevalent Projects, the former French Laundry at 138 E. Blithedale Avenue, now home to Revery Salon, as well as MV City Hall at 26 Corte Madera Avenue, the Sweetwater Music Hall and the Mill Valley Lumber Yard.
GO HERE TO CHECK OUT THE TREASURE THAT IS THE MILL VALLEY PUBLIC LIBRARY’S HISTORY ROOM.
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wow! this is my great grandfathers letter. i would love to contact you if there is any way i could get ahold of this. thank you!
I loved this story and the information you shared in it – the two Oren Lovett’s written about were my dad and grandfather!! My son just ran across it. Thank you so much for sharing!