Anthony has embraced this day so much that the town calls itself the
Leap Year Capital
of the World and every four years, the townsfolk spruce up the main street
and honor
those people who technically have only one birthday every four years.The
town located in southern New Mexico between Las Cruces and El Paso has been
doing this every four years since 1988 when Mary Ann Brown, a Leap Year baby
herself, founded the Worldwide Leap Year Birthday Club.
This year’s parade will feature Abeita as the grand marshal. Also on hand
to honor her
for making it to 25 Leap Years will be U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici.
One of her eight boys, Ernie Abeita, points out that not only has his
mother weathered
25 Leap Year birthdays but has managed to celebrate 75 other non-Leap Year
birthdays
as well.
In those non-Leap years, he said, the birthdays would be celebrated on a
weekend
anywhere from Feb. 27 to March 3 so members of the large Abeita family could
come
from all corners of the United States and pay homage to a mother who,
despite her age,
was still making time for her favorite hobby — bingo.
Her husband worked at Fort Wingate in administration for 37 years before
taking
his retirement and then worked for another 25 years as a driver for the
Gallup Fire
Department. He died some 20 years ago shortly after he moved the family to
the
Isleta Pueblo where Josephine Abeita now lives with her daughter.
Most of the Abeita family aren’t surprised that Josephine has seen so
many birthdays
since her mother lived to celebrate 113 birthdays herself.
While she’s hard of hearing, she still is able to get around with a
walker and her mind
is still as attuned to the hustle and bustle of the Isleta bingo parlor as
when she started
going there in the 1980s. She still goes on a regular basis and plays 12
bingo cards at
a time.
“The whole family is going to get together to celebrate her birthday on
Saturday,” said
Ernie Abeita, who added that his mother’s only request is not to have it
last too long.
The celebration will be in the restaurant of the Isleta Casino. “She doesn’t
want to be
late to her bingo game.”
When she isn’t playing bingo, he said, she’s doing crossword puzzles.
“She can beat
anyone in doing crossword puzzles,” he said.
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