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Nashville man revisits Leap Day birthday newspaper article from 1960

Posted at 11:02 AM, Feb 29, 2024
and last updated 2024-02-29 12:04:46-05

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Every four years brings a type of change.

For kids who wait all year for their birthday, how do you explain this to a kid born on Leap Day and has to wait every four years?

Maybe they celebrate on February 28 or March 1, but every four years is a reason to celebrate.

"I was always considered the baby, which I was," said Bobby Sanders, sitting on a couch in Sanders' Furniture store.

It's a family-run business in West Nashville.

"Pictures bring back a lot of old memories," Sanders said while looking at old photos scattered across a coffee table.

The pictures aren't quite why we went to talk with Sanders. There was one element, though, that we were particularly interested and it's the reason we reached out to him in the first place.

In 1960, he was featured in the Tennessean for celebrating a Leap Day birthday. He and his mother interviewed with the newspaper for a fun, light-hearted story.

"There's them brown eyes right there," he said looking down at the photo of when he was eight years old. "This is a cut out of the Tennessean of when they made that write up about me."

Sanders admits he doesn't fully remember the interview, but he says his mother did most of the talking.

So, how will he celebrate this year? He says 72 candles on the cake might be too many, but 18 will do.


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