Only one can exist. Well, once a year anyway.
But being the first baby of the new year is a special honor.
As we welcome 2023, celebrate today’s milestone past Lehigh Valley New Year’s Babies with these (sometimes awkward) stories of big arrivals. happy birthday!
2013: Julianna Elyse Martinez turns 10 today. She was born 15 minutes after New Years at Lehi Valley Hospital in Salisbury Township. That day, her mother, Kayla of Emmaus, said the visit began as an ultrasound to check on Juliana, who was two days past her due date. It took more than 12 hours from the ultrasound, but the baby was just in time for Lehigh Valley’s first baby in 2013. Kayla Martinez said it was exciting for her to have a baby in the new year because one of her sisters shares the same birthday.
2003: Happy 20th birthday to Elijah David Muravrag who was admitted to St. Luke’s Hospital, Fountain Hill at 12:51 am. Elijah didn’t have another day scheduled, so his parents in Allentown, Melissa and Sanders, had planned to spend the vacation with friends. “We thought[the baby]would be born after midnight. But we never thought we’d be the first,” the father said that day. , told the Express Times.
1998: Angelica Marie Timard is 25 years old today. She was welcomed in at 12:28 a.m., just past her due date in mid-December, but before the planned January 2 introduction.With Jennifer of Bushkill Township Nick’s parents were overjoyed, but his dad joked that Angelica had arrived too late to qualify for the 1997 tax credit. “He kept saying that if it came before New Year’s, it would be a boy. If it was after New Year’s, it would have to be a girl because she had already paid him.
1973: It’s a big 5-0 win for the daughter of Flemington’s E. Kent Kimbal. I’m sorry your name wasn’t printed when you were born, but your parents hadn’t given you a name yet. I know you’ve arrived. Within five hours, you were the first child she had born in 1973, in one of her four hospitals then covered by the Easton Express. Congrats to everyone and everywhere!
• 20 years ago | January 1, 2003: Hellertown unicyclist Rodney Lasic is back in the Philadelphia Mums Day Parade 11 years after breaking his heel in a 6-foot unicycling accident in Philadelphia (although he’s only 200 characters). 9th place among marchers). His costume for 2003 is Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.
• 25 years ago | January 3, 1998: The Express-Times reports the passing of Donald Stabler, the Lehigh University alumnus and businessman for whom Stabler Arena is named. The 89-year-old Stabler began business as a one-man construction company in 1940, and in 11 subsidiaries he has grown to employ 1,200 people in the sprawling Upper He Township his campus.
• 50 years ago | January 2, 1973: The death of Pittsburgh Pirates outfielder Roberto Clemente from Puerto Rico has been reported following a plane crash. The 38-year-old headed to Nicaragua with relief supplies for earthquake victims and his Allentown charter school was named after him.
this story is part Lehigh Valleya regular series that recalls historical headlines lehighvalleylive.com, the Express Times and its predecessors 10, 20, 25, 50, 100 years ago. Stories are extracted from microfilm at public libraries in the Easton and Bethlehem areas.
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To contact Steve Novak: snovak@lehighvalleylive.com.