The world’s most powerful leader was waging bloody and unpopular foreign wars. But few citizens were willing to leave their spouses and families to join the troops abroad.

Sound familiar?

The powerful leader in this story is the Roman Emperor Claudis II, known around the forum as Claudis the Cruel. He had a solution to the soldier shortage: He banned marriage. I’m not sure how well this strategy worked to increase the number of new army recruits, but I did learn that one brave priest – so the story goes – strove mightily to keep the nuptials going.

St. Valentine – who else?

He performed countless marriage ceremonies in secret. Finally, he was discovered, jailed and slain. He left his friend, the jailer’s daughter, a message before his Feb. 14 martyrdom. It read, “Love from your Valentine.”

For centuries, Feb. 14 was the Roman Catholic feast day of the patron saint of married and engaged couples and hopefuls. But over time, according to the New York Public Library Desk Reference, St. Valentine’s Day came to be a day to celebrate all love and affection. An so, on this Feb. 14, I’d like to direct affection and appreciation to some real sweethearts: donors to the Red Cross blood drives.

There are six blood drives in the River Valley every year. Three are sponsored by Rumford Hospital; the others by the American Legion and the Eagles, and sometimes the Mexico Masons.

The latest was last Wednesday at the Legion, and (blush: only for the second time), I spent a few hours escorting donors from the “taking” area to the “canteen” for a short rest, a snack, and a T-shirt.

Most every donor had a few minutes wait so I got to chat a little. Peter and Bob told me that, in the old days, the blood drive was up at the hospital. “What a difference. They’d take your blood, then give you a shot of whiskey, and off you’d go.”

Peter, I believe it was, told me he’d been giving blood every couple of months since 1944 when his sister died of leukemia. Dorothy’s late husband had a rare blood type and it wasn’t unusual, she told me, for a cab to pick him up from the Oxford and take him to the hospital to give him a pint of it. He had a certificate of recognition honoring his giving and Dorothy wants one, too.

Lots of the donors were senior citizens, but by no means all. As of last Wednesday, one young woman had given over a gallon of blood to the Red Cross. Why? “My mom was an EMT, and she said that a good supply of blood is important” in an emergency.

Another young woman, who works out at Madison’s but lives in town, came with a friend. Like many others, Reggie LaPointe is a regular.

Departing donors wear smiles, almost as if they’d just given someone a Valentine – and gotten one back.

Linda Farr Macgregor lives with her husband, Jim, in Rumford. She is a freelance writer and author of “Rumford Stories.” Contact her at: [email protected]