Why Presidents’ Day?
The history of Presidents’ Day can be traced back to the late 1700s. People began celebrating George Washington’s birthday (February 22) while he was still president. About a hundred years later, his birthday became a federal holiday. Meanwhile, many people celebrated Abraham Lincoln’s birthday, February 12, in the year of his assassination (1865) and afterward, though Lincoln’s birthday never became a federal holiday.
Both Washington and Lincoln were great presidents. Washington helped to hold the country together during the Revolutionary War, and Lincoln, to bring it back together after the Civil War. But all of our presidents have served our country and worked to make our lives better.
Since the passage of the Monday Holidays Act, Washington’s birthday has been celebrated on the third Monday in February. President Nixon called the holiday "Presidents’ Day" to honor all past presidents. Many states and people have followed his example, though "Washington’s Birthday" is still the holiday’s legal name for the federal government. But under any name, it’s a great day to celebrate everything that our past presidents, including Washington and Lincoln, have done for our nation.
From usmint.gov.
For Great Bend High School Special Education Teacher Teresa Frieb, the toss of a coin always turns up heads, at least when Lincoln-head pennies are involved.
Frieb has completed a mosaic of Abraham Lincoln just in time for Presidents’ Day on Monday. The art project was accomplished with nothing more than 846 pennies in various stages of wear from bright and shiny to dull and nearly black.
"I saw a picture in a catalog last summer," Frieb said. She enlarged it and created her own pattern.
"I’ve always loved puzzles and this was a real challenge," she said, explaining she laid out the pennies row by row. She adhered them with rubber cement to a black rigid foam board.
After following the pattern as closely as she could, the real work began.
"Up close, you can’t tell what it looks like," she said. "You have to stand back – way back – to tweak it. That was the fun part.
"I’d walk across the room and look at it and think, ‘his eye doesn’t look right,’" Frieb said. She’d simply exchange one color of penny for a different shade because the rubber cement was forgiving.
Frieb noted that the project was possible through the help of her co-workers and students who provided pennies for her to pick from to get the colors she needed.
"From a distance, it looks pretty good," she admitted.
