Those heart-shaped pizza-making days? The ones that benefit from the constant efforts of the American Heart Association?
Yeah, those days have always been the most hectic.
“That’s the polite way to put it,” said Mark Miller, manager of the DeFelice Brothers Pizza shop in the village of Bethlehem. “But it’s the best kind of busy, too.”
Miller feels that way because he lost his father, Mark Sr., less than two years ago after he endure several years of heart disease. His father, an American veteran, was only 69 years old when he passed away on Nov. 10, 2021, after a long career as a pipefitter with Local #83.
“Since my father passed away because of his heart I have a new perspective on what we do here at DeFelice Bros. around Valentine’s Day each year. I definitely look at it differently than I used to, that’s for sure,” Miller said. “Last year was the first year we did our heart-shaped pizza after he passed away, but I think it’s sunk in a lot more since then. For a lot of years, those days were just really busy and we dreaded them a little bit.
“I think people do take their heart and their health for granted sometimes,” he said. “But when something like losing a loved one takes place in your life, it wakes you up and I know that’s been the case with me.”
Miller also has paid more attention to the awareness spread by the American Heart Association, and that information has guided him, his wife, and their children to a healthier lifestyle.
“My father had some issues and then finally he had to have triple-bypass surgery,” Miller said. “Now, it didn’t keep him around as long as we had hoped, but it did extend his life so we were able to spend more time with him before he passed. I know my kids enjoyed every second with him because he was their grandfather and they always had a blast with him.
“His generation didn’t know what we know today about our bodies and our diets, so he was at a disadvantage during the latter part of his life,” he explained. “When it comes time for us to raise the funds we do for the American Heart Association, I think about him a lot, and I think about what (the AHA) does now as far as getting the information out there so people know how to take care of their hearts.”
The Aroma of Romance
All nine locations of DeFelice Brothers Pizza will feature the 12-inch, heart-shaped pies for $12.99 beginning Super Bowl Sunday and continuing through Valentine’s Day on Tuesday. The company will donate $1 from each purchase, and last year co-founder Dom DeFelice presented the AHA with a check for more than $3,000.
The DeFelice Brothers shops are located in Bethlehem, Follansbee, Martins Ferry, Moundsville, Newark, Shadyside, St. Clairsville, Wheeling, and Wintersville
“It’s some of our busiest days we have each year and it is hard to keep up sometimes because we receive more orders for the heart-shaped pizza than we have heart-shaped pans. It’s a continuous operation, that’s for sure,” Miller explained. “Each day it seems as if everyone out there want their heart-shaped pizzas, too, so, we know, between 5-7 p.m., the phone is going to start ringing and not stop for a while.
“Because our dough is always fresh, we have to make new dough several times each day that we’re selling our heart-shaped pizzas, and that adds to it,” he said. “But it’s worth it because of the donations that are raised, and because we know our customers love it. It means something to them each year and that’s what is most important. The American Heart Association has played a huge role with researching the best ways for us to take care of our heart and to live a healthy life.”
But why? Why a heart-shaped pizza?
“We have a lot gentlemen who come in for the heart-shaped pizzas because they’re going home to their significant others and they are trying to surprise them,” Miller said. “I’ve not heard of a marriage proposal yet and that kind of surprises me because that was one of the first things I thought about when I first started working here with my mother.
“But maybe that’s just me since I’ve been here at DeFelice Brothers Pizza in Bethlehem for 20 years now,” he added. “Maybe that’s how I’ll ask when I ask my wife to renew our vows, who knows? Maybe then she’ll say yes.”
