Despite the cold temperatures outside, mid-February turns our minds to warmer thoughts, thoughts of love and matters of the heart.

Although the story of St. Valentine takes place far from Dufferin County, we have discovered many of our own stories about falling in and out of love and also quite simply about hearts.

Dufferin County figured prominently in the early history of heart surgery and heart transplants. The Dec. 28, 1965 issue of Look magazine featured the story of an Orangeville man.

"Veryle White, 42, was a grocery storekeeper in Orangeville, Ontario [population 5,200] married to a former nurse, Doreen, and the father of four fine sons. When grocer White entered the Royal Victoria Hospital [Montreal] on August 26, he became the 74th patient to try a daring new surgery. The operation has given him a second chance for a full life. Experts say that the Vineberg technique can do much for the more than five million persons in the United States and Canada whose hearts are dying from lack of blood. In this process, called cine arteriography, a hollow tube through an artery in White's armpit into the vessels feeding his heart. Next, Dr. Skinner injects radiopaque dye through the tube and, as the dye enters the blood circulating around the heart, a movie camera films a sequence of X-Ray pictures. In the developed film, the dye pinpoints the location and extent of blockage caused by coronary occlusions. Ten days after surgery, Veryle White walks the hospital corridors with a firm step and colour in his cheeks."

Dufferin's second heart story happened in July of 1968. The story in the Toronto Star read:

"James Bryan, the donor in Toronto's first heart transplant operation, wasn't a man to complain. Last Friday, a stroke left him unconscious and he was given artificial respiration. An ambulance brought him to Toronto General Hospital. Doctors soon told Marie Bryan that her 33-year-old husband had suffered a cerebral stroke and would not live. They asked permission to transplant his healthy heart when he died. It is what Jim would have wanted, Mrs. Bryan said later. Jim Bryan was born in the rolling farm country west of Orangeville. He was the second youngest of five children of James S. Bryan, a tightly knit family who still live within a few miles of each other." If memory serves us correctly at the museum, the recipient was a Toronto labourer, Pietro Ungaro.

Yes, Dufferin had a big heart, but we were also no slouches when it came to matters of love. There are hundreds of stories of love in the area, good and bad, but I only have room to squeeze in a couple of our favorites. The first story appears in the Orangeville Sun Jan 14, 1892.

"A very amusing episode took place in this town which some people will regard as a serious and unfortunate mishap."

The rattled groomsman had the quartette of bride, bridesmaid, groom and groomsman arranged before the minister at one of the local churches in town. The bridesmaid stood where the bride should have been and they were pronounced man and wife. The mistake was not noticed until the couple returned to Toronto and the groom read the certificate. After a confusing consultation, another ceremony was performed at a later date. Talk about getting one last chance...

The next story of love has a much sadder ending. The Orangeville Sun reported in July of 1870 that Eliza Shaw of Garafraxa "died last week from grief and a broken heart." It was all over the conduct of a lover who had ran away to Chicago and took away a gold watch which belonged to her. It wasn't clear whether she was grieving over the loss of the man or the loss of the watch.

As Cupid's arrow flies around Dufferin this Valentine's Day, think of our past and the wonderful stories Dufferin has in matters of the heart.

The Dufferin County Museum and Archives is situated on the North East corner of Hwy 89 and Airport Rd. For more information, please call 705-435-1881 or toll free 1-877-941-7787, or visit the website www.dufferinmuseum.com