VALENTINE’S DAY 1990: <i> A Story of Love in the San Gabriel Valley</i> : Some People Named Valentine Have It Sweet Year-Round : Names: Those with the same moniker as the saint are associated with ‘hearts, flowers and love.’

Back in the 3rd Century, shopkeepers probably didn’t blink when the Roman Christian martyr Valentine signed his name. But that was before sainthood and Hallmark made Valentine a household moniker.

“It’s a name people remember,” said Joan Valentine of Arcadia, who can tell people she married her Valentine, Ray. Each year on Feb. 14, Joan cooks Ray a candlelight dinner; he often brings her a red rose.

That’s not so unusual, but like dozens of people throughout the San Gabriel Valley, these Valentines remain Valentines year-round.

People named Valentine say they get teased in school, showered with heart trinkets and badgered about romance. When Arcadia real estate agent Ruth Valentine pulls out her checkbook, she says store clerks invariably comment about “hearts, flowers and love.”

Joan Valentine gets the same reaction. “People say, ‘What a romantic name! Did you get married on the 14th?’ ”

Some Valentines say they take “their day” in stride without any special fuss. Others, however, say that in their homes, Valentine’s Day rivals Christmas as the biggest holiday of the year.

Lucille Valentine of Pasadena, a “real Valentine”--by birth, not by marriage--has warm memories of childhood Valentine’s Days. “We lived on a farm in the Midwest. We had a heart-shaped pan and always had a heart-shaped cake. My mother always frosted it in pink, poor as we were.”

Traditions mark the winter day of love for institutions as well as individuals named Valentine.

In February, reams of red, white and pink construction paper become thousands of hearts, cupids and flowers at San Marino’s Valentine Elementary School, 1650 Huntington Drive. Red and white windsocks with hearts are hung next to the blue and white windsocks--with hearts--that fly in the open-air corridors all year.

Janice McGrath wears red tights, red shoes, red earrings and a red necklace to her fourth-grade class.

Named for W. L. Valentine, San Marino’s second mayor, Valentine school opened in 1938 and has lovingly turned out students ever since, said Principal Mary A. Meye, who wears a gold heart on a chain around her neck.

Dull statistical reports go to the state education office bedecked with Valentines when they come from Valentine school, Meye said. PTA mothers and special volunteers are named Heart of Gold recipients every year. Meye said she takes the school’s name seriously, though, and believes that love plays a part in the motto written in every classroom: “I will respect myself and others.”

“We’re very proud of our school. Valentine is a special place,” she said.

Valentine school has no teachers named Mr. or Mrs. Valentine, but several San Gabriel Valley Valentines have taught at other schools, to the delight of their students.

“I taught second grade for five years,” Eleanor Valentine said. “I remember one Valentine’s morning I had yard duty and every kid in the school came up to me and said, ‘Good morning, Mrs. Valentine,’ and then giggled and ran away! The rest of the year, it was just my name.”

Joan Valentine, a teacher’s aide, said one 3-year-old always called her Mrs. Heart. “She couldn’t remember the name, but she had the correct association. I was really impressed.”

Being on the other side of the desk as a student named Valentine has its moments, especially on Valentine’s Day, according to the daughters of John and Kathleen Valentine of Pasadena.

Fara, 13, Megan, 12, and Carrie, 9, no longer go out of their way to wear dresses and blouses with hearts on them, but they still hear the jokes.

“Some people say . . . ‘Here comes a Valentine,’ that sort of thing,” Fara said.

Added Megan: “Well, some kids tease me, and some just say, ‘Will you be my Valentine?’ ”

Sandy Valentine of Glendora liked the name so much she kept it for business purposes, even when she married a man named Donahue. At Valentine’s Fortune Escrow, 211 W. Foothill Blvd. in Glendora, the envelopes, the paper clips--even the emery boards in her desk--are decorated with hearts. Every year, she throws a Valentine’s Day bash for real estate agents and other business associates.

“In business, you always have to have something for people to remember you. The name Valentine is a trigger to have them remember me,” Sandy Valentine said.

Other businesses use the symbols of Valentine’s Day more subtly. The pews in the chapel at Valentine-Woods Mortuary, 1455 N. Fair Oaks Ave. in Pasadena, have small hearts carved into them, said Arzella Valentine, who will celebrate her 41st wedding anniversary with Fred Valentine this month.

Married in Pasadena on Feb. 20 “because the 14th fell mid-week” in 1949, Arzella Valentine said she and her husband celebrate their anniversary and the holiday simultaneously. “We make a big thing about Valentine’s Day,” she said. “This is always a special time for us.”

Of course, there are those who don’t dot the “i” in Valentine with a heart, and there are those who would just as soon be named Smith.

One Valentine family said holidays conflict with their religious beliefs. And the owner of Valentine’s Wine & Spirits, 924 S. Baldwin Ave. in Arcadia, said he just bought the store, name and all. There are no hearts in the store, he said, and no cupids. His last name? He wouldn’t say.