Unless you’re a divorce lawyer, Valentine’s Day is one of the best days of the year. If, like me, you’re lucky enough to have a sweetheart, you can let them know how much you love and appreciate them by sending them flowers or a heart-shaped box of candy. And if you don’t currently have a sweetheart but have someone in mind for the position, you can take your best shot at her or him with Cupid’s bow and arrow.

As a lifelong member of the male gender, I am always keeping my masculine eye open for the perfect Valentine’s Day present for my sweetheart, Claudia Swafford Haltom. She’s been my sweetheart for nearly 40 years, and we’re a regular Barney and Thelma Lou.

Over the years on Valentine’s Day, I’ve sent her roses and chocolates and teddy bears, and on one occasion, a snugee blanket. I have also bought her gift certificates for massages, facials, and spa treatments where they pack her in mud and tickle her fanny with a feather.

But this year, I have found the best Valentine’s Day present of all. In fact, it is the perfect Valentine’s Day present, and when I say perfect, I mean perfect.

It is such a great gift that I could not even wait for Valentine’s Day to give it to her. I put it in her Christmas stocking, and she absolutely loved it.

And so for the benefit of all my fellow male readers of the Tennessee Bar Journal, let me share with you the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for your sweetheart: A charter membership in the Perfect 36 Society.

The Perfect 36 Society is an emerging group of highly accomplished Tennessee women (many of whom are lawyers) who are now working to celebrate the upcoming centennial of one of the greatest days in the history of our state and our nation – Aug. 18, 1920. That was the day Tennessee became the final state that ratified the 19th Amendment, guaranteeing American women the right to vote.

The centennial of this great day is four years away, but thanks to the Perfect 36 Society, the celebration will begin later this year with the unveiling of the Tennessee Women’s Suffrage Monument in the Legislative Plaza in Nashville.

The statue, designed by artist Alan LeQuire, will feature five great Tennessee suffragists marching to equality. They were Anne Dallas Dudley, Carrie Chapman Catt and Frankie Pierce of Nashville, Sue Shelton White of Jackson, and Abby Crawford Milton of Chattanooga.

My good friend Paula Casey, who is President of Tennessee Women’s Suffrage Monument Inc., recently told the Tennessean, “History will be preserved for the ages because public art is forever. The monument will mean that people who live and work in Tennessee and visit Tennessee will know about Tennessee’s greatest gift to our country. All women vote today thanks to Tennessee.” [Editor’s note: Read Paula Casey’s article, “Tennessee’s Voting Rights for Women,” in the September/October 1995 Tennessee Bar Journal, at www.tba.org/sites/default/files/Tenn_Voting_Rights_for_Women.pdf.]

The idea of a statue originated with Nashville attorney Alma Sanford. In 2010 she read Gov. Phil Bredesen’s proclamation for Women’s Equality Day, and recalled, “… Out of the blue, it hit me that 10 years from now, it will be 100 years (since Tennessee passed women’s suffrage). We need to do something because Tennessee is a big deal in this effort.”

And that’s what led to the creation of the Perfect 36 Society, a group of outstanding Tennessee women who not only vote but lead as well, and they are leading the effort to fund the new Tennessee Women’s Suffrage Monument.

On Dec. 15, 2014, the Tennessee Capital Commission unanimously approved the request to place the memorial in Legislative Plaza. On Jan. 8, the State Building Commission approved the project. And sometime later this year, the monument will be unveiled, appropriately enough just a short walk from where the Tennessee General Assembly ratified the 19th Amendment 96 years ago.

And this, my fellow brothers in law, is where you can buy the perfect Valentine’s Day gift for your sweetheart. For a tax-deductible contribution of $500, you can purchase your sweetheart a charter membership in the Perfect 36 Society. And believe me, unlike roses, this gift will not die. It will in fact last forever.

The names of each and every charter member of the Perfect 36 Society will be engraved on the base of the Tennessee Women’s Suffrage Monument to honor not only the suffragists, but your sweetheart and her sister modern-day suffragists.

Your sweetheart will also be invited to the unveiling of the monument and to a reception at the Governor’s Residence hosted by First Lady Crissy Haslam. This is a limited time offer, as charter membership is available to only 200 women.

And so if you would like to purchase this “Perfect 36” Valentine’s Day gift for your sweetheart, click on www.tnsuffragemonument.org.

Finally, as if this deal wasn’t sweet enough, let me sweeten it with an additional offer for my Tennessee brothers. If you purchase a membership in the Perfect 36 Society for your sweetheart, I am offering you, free of charge, membership in the unofficial Harry Burn Society, which will serve as the unofficial auxiliary of the Perfect 36 Society.

Harry Burn was the 22-year-old Tennessee legislator from McMinn County who cast the deciding vote for the 19th Amendment. He had originally announced his opposition to the proposed amendment, but he received a letter from his mama that read as follows:

Dear Son:

Hurray and vote for suffrage! Don’t keep them in doubt! I notice some of the speeches against. They were bitter. I have been watching to see how you stood, but have not noticed anything yet. Don’t forget to be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt put the “rat” in ratification.

Your Mother

Harry Burn changed his vote, breaking a 48-48 tie in the Tennessee House of Representatives, and immediately franchising some 27 million American women and hundreds of millions to follow.

When some of his fellow male members of the legislature asked him to explain his change of heart, Rep. Burn said, “A good boy always does what his mother asks him to do.”
Amen, brother Harry!

So my fellow men, do what your mother would want to you do. This Valentine’s Day give your sweetheart the gift of a charter membership in the Perfect 36 Society. And join me in the Harry Burn Society!

BILL HALTOM is a shareholder with the firm of Lewis Thomason. He is a past president of the Tennessee Bar Association and a past president of the Memphis Bar Association. Read his blog at www.billhaltom.com.