Remembering March Birthdays

Today is the 104th birthday of my maternal grandfather, Glenn Murray Smith. He was born in Los Angeles on March 19, 1916, and died in Dana Point, California, on July 21, 1998 at the age of 82.

As I've shared in previous posts, March 19 was not only notable for being Glenn's birthday. In 1933, it was also the day of his first date with my grandmother, LaVerne Rutherfurd. They went to see King Kong at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood on Glenn's 17th birthday.

My grandparents at their wedding on November 1, 1941

Glenn was one of several people in our greater Smith family with a March birthday. My mother was born on March 30. My uncle Doug has a March 5 birthday. Glenn's brother, Kevin Smith, was born on March 2. My step-great-grandmother, Dandy Rutherfurd, had a March 20 birthday. At a certain point, there were enough March birthdays that my grandparents began hosting a big party for everyone, which was known to us simply as "March Birthday." It was also a bit of a St. Patrick's Day party, at least in the early years of this tradition. I remember several years of this party in the late 1970s and early 1980s. My Smith grandparents were living at 695 Winston Avenue in San Marino, California, and the whole extended family gathered there for dinner and drinks. I remember my great-uncle Kevin's boisterous laugh, and my younger brothers being carried on shoulders. In later years, the party became a more casual dinner. In the early 1990s, my grandparents moved to 32682 Seven Seas Drive in Dana Point, closer to my family and my young cousins, and we gathered there for several years. My mother, a fantastic baker, always made the cake for this event. It was a Ghiradelli chocolate cake with chocolate frosting that had a hint of coffee. My grandfather loved that cake, especially the frosting, which was always his favorite part of any cake.

Kevin Smith (left) and his older brother, my grandfather Glenn M. Smith at a March Birthday party

After my grandfather passed away, my grandmother moved to a smaller home in Newport Beach, and the March Birthday celebration generally was held at my uncle Doug's home nearby. At that point, it had evolved into a really casual gathering, typically featuring Doug grilling burgers in the backyard. Since my grandmother's death in 2012, and about half the usual guests moving to Northern California over the past decade, the March Birthday tradition has sadly come to an end. However, March still means family and celebration to me.

Happy birthday to my Grandad, and happy birthday to all those with March birthdays.