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It's a Block Party as Five Neighbors on Same Block Share Oct. 19 Birthday

By Justin Breen | October 17, 2014 5:32am
 Norwood Park neighbors Careen Smandra, 50, Larry Frede, 59, and Connor Lasch, 9, all were born on Oct. 19. Another neighbor, Paige Stewart, 22, also was born that day.
Norwood Park neighbors Careen Smandra, 50, Larry Frede, 59, and Connor Lasch, 9, all were born on Oct. 19. Another neighbor, Paige Stewart, 22, also was born that day.
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DNAinfo/Justin Breen

NORWOOD PARK — Within a seven-house span on one Northwest Side block, five people will be celebrating their birthdays on the same day, Oct. 19.

The same-birthday neighbors in the 6400 block of North Newland Avenue range in age from 59-year-old Larry Frede to 9-year-old Connor Lasch. Careen Smandra, 50, Paige Stewart, 22, and a 34-year-old man who wished to remain anonymous also will be wished a "Happy Birthday" on Sunday.

"We're all different, young and old, boys and girls," Smandra said. "There's no connections other than our birthday. It's very unusual to have that many people so close to you have the same birthday."

Justin Breen says the neighbors don't all party together to celebrate:

 Left: Norwood Park neighbors Careen Smandra and Larry Frede on their Oct. 19 birthday in 2004. Right: Fellow neighbor Paige Stewart, 22, who also was born on Oct. 19.
Left: Norwood Park neighbors Careen Smandra and Larry Frede on their Oct. 19 birthday in 2004. Right: Fellow neighbor Paige Stewart, 22, who also was born on Oct. 19.
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Careen Smandra; Paige Stewart

Stewart said it's a running neighborhood joke that when a baby is due, it will be born on Oct. 19. That's exactly what happened with Connor, whose actual due date was Oct. 28, but he arrived nine days earlier.

Connor will be riding go-karts on Sunday with friends for his birthday party. Smandra will watch the Bears home game against the Dolphins, take a long walk and then share birthday cake with Frede, who lives next door. Before he comes over to Smandra's house, Frede will be spending several hours setting up elaborate Halloween decorations. Because he's turning 60, Frede said his wife, Pat, might even let him sleep in on Sunday.

Before he met any of his neighbors, Frede said he didn't know anyone who had been born on Oct. 19.

"And the only famous person I had heard of who had that birthday was Amy Carter," President Jimmy Carter's daughter, Frede said.

That changed in 1992 when Smandra moved into her husband Mike's house just south of Frede's.

"We struck up a conversation, and I was amazed we had the same birthday," Frede said. "Then it seemed like everyone started having that birthday."

Frede described the 29-house block as one "time forgot." Frede said walking your dog down the block can take 20 minutes "because everyone hangs out on their porch and wants to talk to you." Almost every house is adorned with an American flag.

"We always greet each other hello and goodbye when possible via words or waving through car windows," said Stewart, who recently earned her bachelor's degree in exercise science from Carroll University.

Seven police officers, three firemen and several other city workers live on the block. Smandra's husband, Mike, whose birthday, by the way, was Oct. 16, is a Chicago Fire Department chief. Connor's father, Al, is a Chicago Police officer.

Connor hopes to play professional baseball.

"You could be Mr. October," Frede told him during a get-together at Smandra's home.

The five birthday folks have never congregated on Oct. 19 to observe a communal celebration.

Smandra hopes that eventually, perhaps on Connor's 21st birthday, they can do just that.

"Maybe we can celebrate our birthday together," she said. "Maybe it’s a really big cake, and someone can sing Happy Birthday to all of us."

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