Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Carol and Howie Walters dance at the annual valentine dinner, in advance of her leap year birthday. Friends kid Howie that he is "robbing the cradle" since she is only 19 in leap year age.
By JAN TUCKER
Ontonagon - Carol Walters is 19 years old, but she has four children, nine grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
It's not as impossible as it seems. Carol is a leap year baby and celebrates a real birthday every four years.
She remembers well when she moved into the Rockland School from Rousseau, and her class was compose of four boys and two girls. The teacher asked the students when their birthdays were. When they got to the first girl, she said "February 28."
Then it was Carol's turn and she said, "February 29." The teacher did not believe her at first. "She thought I was making it up," Carol laughed.
On the non-leap years, Carol celebrated her birthday on Feb. 28, when she was not yet a year older, or March 1, when her special day was already passed.
Every four years, however, it was a "special, real birthday." There would be parties and cakes just like every kid on the off years, but she always knew it was not her birthday "yet."
Her birthday got caught in the cracks every three years. Her children never let her forget it, however, because they woul make a big deal of their Leap Day mom by making cards for her.
Fifty-eight years ago, Carol married her high school sweetheart, Howie. People kid him that he robbed the cradle since her leap year status made her only grade school age at the time of the wedding.
Dale Blake
Dale Blake is 20, although his oldest child is 58. Not only is his birthday on Feb. 29, but even his way of celebrating it is different. While most kids want a fancy birthday cake, Dale wanted butterscotch banana pie.
Dale gets his greatest teasing from his grandchildren, who said, "Grandpa, you get a real birthday this year." On non-leap years, his wife, Shirley, kids, "You get no cake this year because you have no birthday."
Dale has been retired from Blake's Oil and Repair service for 17 years. That's pretty good when you are only 20 years old.
This year on Feb. 29, when Carol and Dale are wished, "Happy Birthday," their friends and families really mean it.
