A 19-year-old who was alive during the first moon landing?

By Jake Brown / Staff Writer

Having a birthday on Leap Day is unique. People see it as a kind of mystical day. It only comes around once every four years. It is a wildly different sort of thing to have been born on a Leap Year and have the birthdate be the Feb. 29. 

All of this said, with the help of some staff members at the college, The Collegian was able to find an employee who was born on the date. Sue Wegerle is a member of the community and Hutchinson Community College as she works closely with HutchCC as the Site Coordinator for the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance.

When asked about celebrating on the years that there is actually a Feb. 29, she said, “The family usually plans something for actual birthdays.”

Wegerle also said her husband takes her out on every Feb. 29. To go along with this, she said that years that don’t leap, she celebrates on both Feb. 28 and March 1. 

Wegerle will be celebrating her 19th birthday this year.

It is remarkable to think that someone so young could have seen so much in history, which makes sense as Wegerle has been around for 76 years overall. Seeing the original “Twilight Zone” television showsfrom the 1950s. Witnessing the first man on the moon in the late 1960s. A time when “Tears for Fears” was popular in the 1980s. A weird 1990s involving “Vanilla Ice.”

All of this, and still such a young age. That is truly remarkable.

This story is part of a series of features on people on campus with a Leap Day birthday. The other stories can be read below:

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