Lexington couple has celebrated Valentine’s Day for 12 years at the same Waffle House
When Pat Wooten and her fiance, Robert, were thinking about where they wanted to go for Valentine’s Day a dozen years ago, they went where they felt most comfortable. They went to Waffle House.
The couple from Lexington County’s Edmund community go to the Waffle House on South Lake Drive so often, they have a regular booth that they used that evening and every Valentine’s Day since. The couple went back for the 12th holiday in a row on Friday, ahead of their similar-numbered anniversary in June.
The Lexington Waffle House took Valentine’s reservations for the first time in 2008, and manager Dianne Lee had even asked the newly engaged couple if they wanted to participate.
“Everybody there knew us,” said Pat Wooten, now 74. “The waitresses, when they see us drive up, they have our coffee ready and our booth waiting. We enjoy going, they’re sweet to us.”
Valentine’s isn’t the only time the Wootens dine out at the ubiquitous Southern eatery; it’s where they spend their wedding anniversary too. Lee, the manager, has taken to calling them “Nan and Pa.”
“Maybe because of their age, they just feel like grandparents to us,” Lee said.
Pat worked in orthopedics before she retired, while Robert, 78, worked in a cabinet shop in downtown Columbia. But the couple only got engaged in the summer before they started their Valentine’s tradition.
Since then, they’ve had a regular booth at the Waffle House, which Lee keeps from being reserved every year until the couple has a chance to claim it.
“It’s not just Valentine’s. Every time they sit in that booth,” Lee said. “At times when someone is sitting there and we have other open tables, I’ve seen them wait for that booth to open up. I’ve never, ever seen them sit anywhere else, at least not when I’ve been here.”
This past year has been hard for the Wootens, as the family struggled with health problems. Lee reached out to the couple to make sure they were still going to make it out on Feb. 14, using the number she had from sending them photos from a previous Valentine’s date.
But Pat insists they never intended to miss their Valentine’s Day tradition.
“They hadn’t heard from Ma and Pa, so they were relieved,” she said. “We enjoy being around there. You want to go somewhere where you’re known, where you have an identity.”
The Wootens dined out early this Valentine’s Day, not because of their age. They left to serve dinner at a banquet at Edmund First Baptist Church, about nine miles down the road.
This story was originally published February 15, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
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