Feb. 28, 2009 – Living among we mere mortals in the Virgin Islands, is a person – one of 1,461 born each year – a very special being termed a "Leaper."
Leap Year Babies have their own honor society, countless web pages, and heaven knows what else — maybe special diets. Anyhow, the territory's own Leaper, Sen. Louis Patrick Hill, is modest about his accomplishment.
Your chance of being born on a leap year day is about 1 in 1461 (the next leap year is 2012). Put another way, only 0.0684 percent of the world's population are Leapers, according to the Honor Society of Leap Year Babies.
Informed of this impressive feat, Hill seemed, well, merely mortal.
"Really?" he said.
Growing up one of several children on Dominica, Hill says his birthday was not at all special. "We didn't celebrate any birthdays," he said. "It was not a big celebration for me. It was a tough time growing up. I was 18, and working before my mother ever had any money to celebrate. We just didn't do it; it wasn't part of our experience."
Speaking from St. John Saturday morning, Hill was pumped up, but not because of his date of birth. He had just completed another tough experience, one of his own choosing – the 13th annual 8 Tuff Miles race from Cruz Bay and Coral Bay on St. John.
Still kind of panting, Hill said, "The race was exhilarating, a wonderful time. I always enjoy it, this is my third time. And I always love being on St. John." An avid runner, Hill is almost as familiar a figure at racing events as in his last six years at the Earle B. Ottley Legislative Hall.
About that birthday. "Four years ago, on my 46th birthday, my wife, Desiree, threw me the best birthday party I ever had," Hill said. "It was at Coral World, loads of friends, very sweet."
Actually, there's not a whole lot of political folk holding the day special; a web search revealed no other politicians of great note.
Entertainers rank a bit better, depending. They include Swing Era musician Jimmy Dorsey and the perhaps less notable Tempest Storm, highly regarded in San Francisco stripping circles of the 1950s. The rapper and actor Ja Rule is a Leaper, too, as is motivational speaker Tony Robbins.
The Leapers are a spirited bunch. The Honor Society says a movement to put Leap Year Day on the calendar is afoot.
"Leap Year Day is the world's extra day," Honor Society devotees say. "If Groundhog Day is on the calendar, how about Leap Year? It's the world's extra day."
A somewhat unscientific Source poll has revealed there is at least one other Virgin Island Leaper of Note: His name is Clyde, and he is said to be very sociable; however, he had his nose buried in kibble and declined an interview.
He is a one-year-old — give or take — Rottweiler belonging to Unise Tranberg, owner of Pier 69 Restaurant in Frederiksted.
For the more scholarly types, here's a bit of background from wikipedia. In the Gregorian calendar, the current standard calendar in most of the world, most years whose division by 4 equals an integer are leap years. In each leap year, the month of February has 29 days instead of 28. Adding an extra day to the calendar every four years compensates for the fact that a period of 365 days is shorter than a solar year by almost six hours.
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