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They save a fortune on candles
Only 200,000 Americans, all young at heart, celebrate birthday on Feb. 29
By TIM O'BRIEN, Staff writer
First published: Sunday, February 29, 2004
Leo Campbell Jr. loves it when his co-workers at Niagara Mohawk tell him to act his age.
"I'm only 9. I'm not responsible,' " he tells them.
Campbell is one of only 200,000 people in the United States who get to celebrate their actual birthday once every four
years. A leap year baby, or "leapie," he was born on Feb. 29, 1968.
"I love it, mostly because it's a unique birthday," the Albany native said. "When you run into someone who has the same
birthday as yours, you share a special bond."
Mildred Hagie is celebrating her 25th birthday today. She was born a century ago.
"It's different. It only comes once every four years," she said, relaxing in her room at the Eddy Memorial Geriatric Center.
A Kansas native, Hagie has lived in Troy since 1905. Her room is filled with photographs of her late husband, John, his
airplanes and the places they flew, from California to Cuba.
"We traveled the length and breadth of the United States," she said.
Her daughter, Betty Jean, died. She has three grandsons. One of their wives is planning to visit today. She is not sure
whether the nursing home will have a party for her.
"I think so," she said. "They better have."
Odds of being a leap year baby are slim. Only one in 1,461 Americans share the birth date.
Leap years started to keep spring planting schedules consistent, said Heidi Newberg, an associate professor of physics,
applied physics and astronomy at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
"Astronomers have a great need to know exactly what time things are going to happen in the sky, and it initially comes
from the need to know when to plant crops," she said.
The time it takes the Earth to travel around the sun isn't exactly 365 days. The rotation that makes the sun appear to
move from the Tropic of Capricorn to the Tropic of Cancer and back -- what's called a tropical year -- actually takes an
extra six hours.
"There is not an even number of days in a tropical year," Newberg said. "The spring would come one-quarter of a day
earlier every year."
There are exceptions to leap years: On a centennial year, such as 1900, there usually is no leap year. But when a
centennial year is divisible by 400, there is a leap year, making 2000 a rare exception.
It's not always easy being a leap year baby.
Michelle Whitaker Whitney said her son, Miles, went through typical teasing: Children in elementary school would say
he was still a baby.
"When he turned 8, I thought that would be a good age for him to read a book about leap year, about his special birthday,"
she said. "To my surprise, there wasn't any."
So she wrote a children's book, "It's My Birthday ... Finally!" to help him see past the teasing.
"It usually starts roughly around kindergarten and first grade because that's when you're learning about the calendar," she said.
When leap years do come around, she said, she tries to make it extra-special.
"We learn just to make it a lot of fun," she said. "We go all out on leap years."
The Web site, http://leapyeardayproject.com, is a treasure trove of information about leap years and an
"honor roll" of leap year
babies.
On non-leap years, one leapie recounts how he goes into a local restaurant that offers free ice cream sundaes for your birthday.
On Feb. 28, he sits down and explains to the waitress he is a leap year baby, celebrates on that day and gets a free sundae.
The next day, he returns, makes sure he gets a different waiter and gets another sundae.
Campbell said he too still enjoys his birthday every year.
"My mother and brother's birthday is March 1," he said. "I usually celebrate with them. When leap year isn't here, I feel special
too, because I get to share it with my mother and brother."
Hagie said she usually celebrates on Feb. 28: "I was born in February, so I stick with February."
All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2004, Capital Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.
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