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Mary Ann Sinnott was the queen of Hallmark moments.
Whether it was to express sorrow at the death of a tree, joy at the purchase of a new piano, or simply to celebrate Bastille Day, Sinnott believed the occasion deserved a card.
“She just enjoyed getting mail and sending mail, putting smiles on people's faces,” daughter Kathleen Sinnott said of her mother, who died in 2005.
The power that greeting cards have to make us smile, to make us cry, to make us remember, was apparent in the more than two dozen letters and e-mails we received when we asked readers for their favorite Hallmark moments. The king of greeting card companies, which traces its roots to David City, Neb., celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.
Sinnott got an invitation to tour Hallmark headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., in 1968 after her South 48th Street neighbors wrote to the company about the “mad card sender.” Her children (well, five of them — a sixth came along later) still remember the tour, Kathleen Sinnott said, and have letters from the company president and a photo of the family there to prove it.
Mary Ann's card-sending ways were a lifelong habit — and even a bit past that.
“When Mom died, there was a card on her kitchen table,” Kathleen said, with a note on it to be sure and send it to a friend for his birthday.
Do the kids continue their mom's ways?
Well ... “not as much as Mom did,” Kathleen said. “I still send Christmas cards. I don't do any of that e-form stuff.”
Greeting cards are also a hobby for Omahan Dave Collins. After his mother's death, he found a box hidden with her table linens. Tucked inside were many Valentine's Day cards — including the die-cut, fold-out valentines he bought her as a child in the 1950s.
That was the starting point for what would become a collection of die-cut cards from the era.
It once caused a near riot.
As the manager of Naomi's Hallmark at Crossroads Mall in 1989, Collins decided to display his collection for Valentine's Day. Problem was, customers wanted to buy them — really wanted to buy them.
“Disgruntled customers soon were swamping Hallmark headquarters in Kansas City with requests for these cards,” Collins said. “Finally, a corporate rep was dispatched to my store to make sure the display was taken down.”
Collins, now a pastor at Omaha's Trinity Interdenominational Church, said he has collected 25 Hallmark cards from the era, and about 25 more from other manufacturers.
Connie and Bill Lowndes have collected cards over the years, too — Christmas cards they gave each other.
Early in their marriage, their Christmas stockings became a convenient place to store the cards. And on Christmas morning each year, Connie and Bill pull the cards from all those previous years out of the stockings and review them together.
“Some are funny, some are poignant, some make me cry,” Connie said. (Of course, the kids find it amusing when she cries, she added.)
After 25 years, the stockings were beginning to get a bit heavy, but Connie didn't notice that. She also didn't notice that they were strangely light when her daughter Emily hung them this year.
On Christmas morning, she was surprised to discover that her present from Emily was a scrapbook filled with the cards.
Connie doesn't save all greeting cards as religiously as she does the ones she and Bill exchange at Christmas, but there are a few. One of her favorites is from Emily and son Ben: “A Christmas wish for you, Mom ... may Santa jam as much stuff in your stocking as you do in your purse.” (“Unfortunately, it's really true,” Connie said, with a laugh.)
And this year's Christmas cards? They're back in the stockings, ready to carry on the tradition for another 25 years.
Contact the writer:
444-1219, susan.white@owh.com
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