To the editor:

“When You Care Enough to Send the Very Best.”

This slogan, for decades, brought with it the deepest human sentiments.

Whether to celebrate Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, birthdays, anniversaries, holidays or to send heartfelt thoughts in friendship or sympathy. These cards touched our hearts and communicated what the spoken word could not express.

The closing of Carolyn’s Hallmark Store in Fort Dodge is not just the closing of another small store. As a “Gold Crown Store,” it wasn’t only “the best of the best,” but the departing of a family for generations.

Over the years, I have been privileged to work part-time. I was part of a Hallmark family where co-workers and customers became old friends. One Christmas Eve, after a long day, we had just closed when a tearful lady was banging on the front door. She had forgotten to buy her husband a special Christmas card. Of course our boss and friend, Pauly Eaton, turned back on the lights and we showed her the section she needed.

My favorite memory is helping husbands find the right anniversary card. I would always ask the customer, “What do you want to say in this card?” Since I had read most of the cards, this helped point them in the right direction.

During the worst of years, we remember and celebrate that God the Father cared enough to send the very best, his son Jesus. During these terrible dark times, he reaches out and shows us what is caring and loving and good in us all. Let us all care enough to give our very best to our world in 2020 and 2021. May we all have a loving and hope-filled Christmas.

Lou Shackleton

Fort Dodge