For at least two couples on the North Shore, Valentine's Day today is not just a day for young lovers, but for love and the young at heart.
John Richard Larkin, 85, and Leah Havener-Larkin, 90, are known as the "love birds" at the Golden Living Center nursing home in Gloucester.
Both lifelong residents of Gloucester, the Larkins met nine years ago in their apartment building.
"I loved him the first day I saw him," Havener-Larkin said.
John lived on the third floor and said he intentionally made many trips to the second floor where Leah lived. After dating for several months, Larkin proposed and the couple was married in Gloucester on Oct. 3, 2004. Leah's son walked her down the aisle, and the couple's children from previous marriages made up the rest of the wedding party.
"He just saw me coming down the aisle and was all smiles," Havener-Larkin said, a widow of 21 years before meeting John. "I waited for the right one."
Havener-Larkin is not a resident at Golden Living Center, but said she comes to spend every weekday with John.
For Valentine's Day, the couple may attend the center's party today, but said they are content just to be together.
Lovers and friends of all ages today and tonight will mark Valentine's Day with flowers, candy, dinner and other gifts. And schoolchildren still make and share valentines with their moms, dads, grandparents, classmates and other friends.
But Linda Koby of Beverly, activities director at Gloucester's Golden Living Center, said Valentine's Day is important for couples like the Larkins and even for seniors who have lost their spouses to still celebrate.
"Valentine's Day should be an experience of all types of love," she said.
The holiday can be tough to get through at a nursing home, Koby said. That's why she will emphasize love from children, friends and pets, not just from a spouse, at today's party. The event will feature a famous couples trivia game, a Valentine's Day craft fair, and lots of sweets. For couples, private tables are set up with rose pedals and candles.
"You can't just assume that because people are older that they won't want to celebrate," Koby said. "There are so many types of love."
Kendra Seavey, 24, of Rockport, agrees. Activities coordinator at the Beverly Council on Aging and Senior Community Center, Seavey said the Center provides activities, social services and events for seniors in the Beverly area. Valentine's Day is one of the center's favorite holidays because it's fun to see the relationships people still have, Seavey said.
"No matter your age, you'll always have love in your life," Seavey said. "Just because you can't buy someone roses doesn't mean you can't celebrate the holiday."
This year's party will feature Big Smile Entertainment's a capella quartet, lunch and raffle games. The party, open to anyone over 60, costs $4 and will last from 10 a.m. to noon Tuesday
Seavey knows she'll have at least one very happy and loving couple on hand.
Bob Mizzy, 89, met his fianceé©, Nancy Johnson, 90, both of Beverly, seven years ago at the Beverly Council on Aging and Senior Community Center. They sat across from each other at a bingo table.
"I looked over and said, 'That's a nice looking young lady,'" Mizzy said.
Mizzy asked Johnson out to dinner, and after an "I'll let you know," Johnson eventually said yes. Two years later, on Nov. 9, 2009, Mizzy proposed to her with a ring that was placed in the center of a box of chocolates. Though both had been married before, neither was expecting to find love again.
"I was a 12-year widow," Johnson said. "I wasn't looking for any man at all."
The couple now lives together in Beverly and enjoys reading and socializing at the Community Center.
For these two couples, Valentine's Day holds a special meaning — and, back in Gloucester, Havener-Larkin says it's easy to define.
"Valentine's Day means love," she said.
Katie Thompson is a journalism fellow at Gordon College in Wenham, and is the editor in chief of the college's student newspaper, The Tartan.
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