PERRY -- Frances Holden didn’t hesitate when asked how her husband’s Valentine’s Day gift this year compared to previous ones.

“No comparison,” she said, still wiping away tears. “I knew he was up to something. I just didn’t know what.”

She was going about her job Thursday morning as director of nursing at Summerhill Senior Community in Perry when she was asked to come to the front lobby. There she found four gentlemen in white shirts, red vests and bow ties waiting for her.

The group was Macon Harmony, a barbershop quartet that is part of the Heart of Georgia Barbershop Chorus. Their visit was the first of about 20 stops for the day to deliver singing valentines, an annual tradition of the chorus and its biggest fundraiser.

After presenting her with a rose, they sang “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.” It not only moved Holden to tears, but also about a dozen envious female staff members who had gathered around. “It was awesome,” said admissions coordinator Kristina Harrington. “That’s like a chart topper there.”

Members of the quartet were Don Schall, Bob Smith, David Hale and Dave Reiff. The group sings at various events and civic club meetings throughout the year, but Schall said Valentine’s Day is their favorite.

“It is so much fun to watch the faces of the ladies we are singing to,” he said. “I get more out of this than just about anything.”

The term “barbershop quartet” originates from the early 1900s, Schall said, when men used barbershops as social gathering places. The men often would break into song and try to sing in harmony, thus the barbershop quartet was born.

Schall became interested in it about 20 years ago and has been doing it ever since. He said it’s far from a dying art. The chorus has members ranging in age from college students to the elderly.

People enjoy the singing method of the quartet, he said.

“It doesn’t have a musical instrument,” he said. “It’s very close harmony. You are hearing chords that kind of ring.”