When she was a teenager, Ismelda Ornelas won the Valentine post office’s annual contest to design an official ink stamp for Valentine’s Day. Her winning image—two horses, one with a flower in his mouth, the other batting her eyelashes—was an homage not only to her hometown (population 71), but to her late father, a rancher and horse lover who died when she was 13. Nearly two decades later, she hand-stamps thousands of Valentine’s Day cards from around the country as postmaster of the far West Texas town.
A third-generation Valentinian, Ornelas took on the role of postmaster—and Cupid—in 2019 and enjoys playing a small part in spreading love around the world. She processes anywhere from 4,000 to 12,000 valentines each year and often works 12-hour days during the February rush. “Every valentine that lands in my post office means someone has taken the time to think about another person, to write something kind by hand, and to care enough to send it to our town for a special stamp,” she says. (To do the same, send a card to the Valentine postmaster with the recipient’s address and postage inside a larger envelope by Feb. 5.)
Ornelas’ love of letters is rooted in her upbringing. When her grandma developed Alzheimer’s, she asked Ornelas to write her Christmas cards for her. “After she passed away, I started handwriting my Christmas cards because it helps me feel close to her,” she says.
