Leap Year birthdays special every fourth year
Betty Ralph of Baltic will be 80 years young on Feb. 29, but really she can tell everyone she is only turning 20 because that is the Leap Year birthday she is celebrating.
A small group of those born under the Pisces Zodiac sign will leap into their birthday celebrations on Feb. 29 in a way they can only do every four years.
People born on that date are usually forced to mark their days of birth by celebrating on a day other than the one they were actually born on, seeing as Feb. 29 — also known as Leap Year — only happens every four years.
It’s fairly simple as to why Leap Year exists. According to History.com, every four years an extra day is added to the calendar in the form of Feb. 29, also known as Leap Day. The additional 24 hours every four years are built into the calendar to ensure it stays in line with the earth’s movement around the sun.
Some local residents are lucky enough to have been born on this very special day. Betty Ralph of Baltic will be 80 years young on Feb. 29, but really she can tell everyone she is only turning 20 because that is the Leap Year birthday she is celebrating.
Ralph was born at her family’s farm near Baltic on Feb. 29, 1940. According to her niece, Marlene Yoder, nothing out of the ordinary was done to mark the fact that her aunt was born on a day that only comes around once every four years.
“Considering that this was in 1940 and World War II was starting, there were many stresses on families,” Yoder said.
Yoder said at the time of Ralph's birth and throughout her childhood, Ralph and her family were Amish, so her family never made any special celebrations or did anything they didn’t do for their other daughters. But when she became an adult and after leaving the Amish community, things began to change when it came to celebrating her Leap Year birthday.
“Betty taught at Berlin Elementary and Dalton Elementary and retired after 30 years,” Yoder said. “Following that, she taught at Central Christian for a few years and volunteered there and at Berlin Elementary until this year. She loved teaching and being with the students. Some of her favorite memories are of her birthdays celebrated with her students.”
Yoder recalled how her family marked her aunt’s special day. She said the family always teases her that “she takes advantage of her special birth date by having lots of celebrations.”
“On off years she would celebrate for a week because she didn’t know which day to actually celebrate,” Yoder said. “Then on Leap Year she would say we need to celebrate big, and she’d celebrate for a week. So really she just liked to celebrate her birthday.”
Ralph may get the biggest celebration yet in the days to come because Ralph will mark two decades of life, according to her Leap Year birthday. Ralph started celebrating a week and a half before. "We’re not sure how long after the 29th she’ll still be celebrating,” Yoder said.
Lakeville resident Marvin Edwards also is a Leap Year baby and is celebrating his 19th birthday on Feb. 29. In reality he will be 76 years old, but being 19 again sounds much better to him.
Having a birthday on a day that only comes around once every four years can be a bit of a pain in some instances, and Edwards can recall a few times in his life when he had situations arise where he has had to explain his special birth date a bit more clearly.
“Years ago I traveled a lot and had to rent a car at locations I flew to,” Edwards said. “When I would give the receptionist my driver’s license, she or he would type it into the computer. My driver’s license would expire on my birthday in a certain year. The problem was there was no Feb. 29 in the year of expiration, and the computer would not accept it. They would have to change my birth date to be able to rent me an auto. Now Ohio has changed the date to March 1, 0000.”
One of Edwards’ fondest birthday memories took place three Leap Years ago — or 12 years — when he turned his Leap Year age of 16.
“I had three granddaughters that turned 16 the same year,” he said. “They decided to celebrate their birthdays the same day I had mine. They had a cake made up that said ‘Happy 16th Birthday Grandpa.’ When they went to pick it up, the clerk thought the writing was wrong, and she was going to have the bakery redo the notation to 61st birthday. They had to explain that the cake was right. Remember, these girls were 15- and 16-years-old explaining to a 39-year-old baker.”
Like Ralph, Edwards said he doesn’t recall anything special ever really being done when he was young to mark his birth date, but because he is only four years younger than Ralph, it makes sense they would have similar experiences. But when it comes to the here and now, Edwards said many of his friends and family are fairly impressed with his Leap Day birthday.
“My wife says she married a very young person,” Edwards said. “I was 5 1/2 years old then (according to his Leap Year birthday), but she was the one that had to have her father sign for her [to get married]. She wasn’t 21 at the time of our marriage.”
Today, as those folks born on a day that only comes around once every four years celebrate, many people wonder the point of Leap Year, even after knowing the scientific reason as to why.
“I still haven’t figured out why they call this year Leap Year,” Edwards said. “It should be called Regular Year. We are not leaping over this day. We leap over the next three years.”
He has a point there, doesn’t he? Happy Birthday to Leap Year babies everywhere!