Leap-day centenarian marks 26th birthday

MIAMI, March 1 (UPI) -- A 104-year-old -- or 26-year-old, depending on how you count it -- woman in Miami is believed to be the world's oldest living leap baby.

Florence Beatrice Stevens Smith celebrated Friday with two candles on her cake, one for the number of years she has lived and the other for the number of birthdays she has had, The Miami Herald reported.

Any leap baby older than Smith would have to be at least 112, because the year 1900 had no Feb. 29.

Smith has another distinction -- her father, George Stevens, was born a slave. He either escaped or was freed -- no one is sure which -- and enlisted at age 15 in the 54th Massachusetts, the black Civil War regiment depicted in the movie "Glory."

A native of Beverly, Mass., Smith lives at Heartland of Kendall, an assisted living facility in Miami. For many years, she taught typing at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and only switched to using an electric machine last year.

Smith does not like to dwell on the past.

"It was a long life," she told the Herald. "I don't have any particular memories."