February 21, 2025
I suppose every family has its own special days during the year. These are not universal holidays like the Fourth or July or Christmas that everyone celebrates. Rather, they’re the days that are only meaningful to a certain family. In my family one of the special days of the year was the 21st of February.
February 21 was my maternal grandmother’s birthday. Coincidentally, my younger sister Terry was also born on February 21. Fannie Terry Dawson, my grandmother, was born in 1889, the only child of Durbin and Jane Ann Terry. In 1910 she married John Dawson. Together they had nine children.
During my childhood all nine of Grandma’s children were alive. All of them had families of their own. Everyone made a big deal on Grandma’s birthday. We all visited her and celebrated with her.
My mother and her six sisters also usually took Grandma out for dinner on her birthday. The sisters often brought one of their own children along. Occasionally, I went with my mother. My aunts and grandma talked and laughed boisterously. They thoroughly enjoyed their get-together. I wanted to go every year. That rarely happened. Since Grandma’s birthday was also Terry’s, Terry was usually the one chosen to attend the birthday dinners.
When Terry was born on Grandma’s birthday, my mother wanted to name her baby after Grandma. My grandmother wouldn’t allow it. She had suffered with the name Fannie her whole life, and she didn’t want anyone else to have bear all the teasing that the name caused. After some thought, my mother and father chose Grandma’s maiden name for my sister.
Unfortunately, they didn’t think about how the name was spelled. Terry with a “y” is usually considered a boy’s name. A feminine middle name would have helped. However, my folks thought our surname, Fernelius, was so long that they shouldn’t give Terry a middle name. Poor Terry spent her life explaining that, in her case, Terry was a girl’s name.
For our farming family, the end of February was also the end of winter. The year Terry was born, my dad was plowing the fields for his pea crop, which was always planted by March 10. The joint birthdays of Grandma and Terry were also a celebration of spring. Once the birthdays had arrived, it might still be cold and snowy, but we knew that spring was on the way.
Both my grandmother and my sister are gone now. So are all my aunts and uncles and many of my cousins. February 21 is no longer a special day in the family calendar. It has been supplanted in my home by new birthdays and anniversaries. However, I still take note of the day. I remember the days when it was an important day in my life. This year the 21st is Friday, and my family is going to get together for dinner. I want to share a story or two about Grandma and Terry and remember those days when February 21 was a family holiday.
Carol Stetser
Researcher
Larimer County Genealogical Society