BURLESON, Texas — For Irene Masters, of Burleson, the best part of celebrating a birthday is that she’s never alone.
Masters turns 90 on Saturday and incredibly, so does her husband, William.
“That was so unusual to have the same birthday and be in the same year,” Irene Masters said.
“It helps me to remember it,” William Masters joked.
Irene and William were both born on Jan. 13, 1934. He’s older by exactly five hours. They’ve been married 64 years, and from the moment they met, sharing a birthday was hard to believe.
“I thought he was teasing me,” Irene Masters said. “That couldn’t be true. So I asked him to take out his driver’s license and let me look at it to see if he was telling me the truth.”
Sharing a birthday with someone you love? What are the odds? Apparently, pretty good. Not only were Irene and William both born on Jan. 13. Their daughter, Charlotte Wilson, was too. For 61 years, Wilson has shared a birthday with her parents.
In fact, only one person in the family wasn’t born on Jan. 13: Wilson’s older sister, Melinda.
“People would feel sorry for her and bring her presents on my birthday,” Wilson said. “But then on her birthday, I never got any presents. But I’m not bitter about it, so that’s good.”
Truthfully, Wilson says, sharing a birthday with her parents is the real gift.
“It’s God’s way of saying you three are linked in only a way that I could do,” Wilson said.
As they’ve always done, they plan to throw a party to celebrate. However, none of the six grandchildren or five great-grandchildren share Jan. 13 as a birthday. So, this unlikely string of celebrations may be ending.
“There’s still time,” Masters laughed. “Hint hint.”
Or maybe not.