JFK memorabilia fetches $5,500 for Centerport widow

What may have been one of the last remnants of a notable presidential night and a sweet gesture by a man out to impress his sweetie has turned into a $5,500 payday for a Centerport widow.

The icing in the image of the presidential seal that adorned President John F. Kennedy's 45th birthday cake at a legendary 1962 Madison Square Garden celebration fetched the four-figure sum for Lois Larkin during an auction of presidential memorabilia Wednesday.

"$5,500 is very good," said Larkin, upon seeing the winning bid on the Heritage Auction Galleries auction online Wednesday from her home. "Especially for something that was in my hutch."

The winner of the icing is Wayne Lensing, a collector from Roscoe, Ill., according to a spokesman from Heritage Auction Galleries. Larkin received the sweet treat from the man who would later become her husband, Patrick, at the event as a New York City police officer.

She said her husband's job that evening was to escort celebrities back and forth, and while walking though the kitchen he noticed the decorative icing sitting on a counter and asked the staff about it.

"It's going in the garbage, take it if you want it," Larkin said her husband was told. He took it.

Her youngest son Michael, who found the gallery that auctioned the piece, said any tinge of reluctance to let go of a piece of his parent's courtship disappeared with all the interest the relic has received.

The interest "has been great and it's made my mother really happy," Michael Larkin said.