DaytonDailyNews.com

Justin Michael Schmidt turned 30 years old on Dec. 26, and he knew well in advance what one of his gifts would be.

"It happens every year," he said, with a smile on his face. "It's a perfect present. My mom gives me an edition of the Dayton Daily News dated Dec. 26. She has done it every year since I was born."

Jane Alexander, his mother, has preserved the 30 newspapers in heavy plastic covers, and they have been stored under the bed, on closet shelves, or in a safe place in Schmidt's Belmont home.

"When I was in the hospital 30 years ago I was talking with Justin's father, Michael," Jane said. "The hostage situation was commanding attention in Iran, and I remember there were so many interesting things going on in the news at that time. I decided to keep the newspaper for the day Justin was born. Then each birthday after that, well we kept doing it."

Her husband passed away earlier this year, and Justin is her only child, Alexander said.

"Since my son turns 30 this year I thought it would be a good time to share the information about this neat gift," the mother said. "I just wondered if there are others in the community who have saved special newspapers to remember certain occasions."

Justin and his mother leafed through Justin's stash of newspapers one day last week stopping to talk about a particular news story or advertisement that caught their eyes. It became a little game, looking for columns that I had written over the years.

We easily found one from Dec. 26, 1998 when Reggie Dixon made me an honorary Harlem Globe Trotter when the players appeared at Hara Arena. And there was a poignant letter home from a Xenia soldier spotlighted in a Dec. 26, 1990 column.

"You have been writing columns since the day I was born," Schmidt said. "This puts the icing on the cake to have a chance to meet one of the newspaper writers on the occasion of my 30th year of celebrating birthdays and collecting newspapers."

Justin said he is a 1997 graduate of Wayne High School in Huber Heights.

"I don't know if collecting these newspapers had anything to do with it, but I was interested in journalism in school and worked on the high school newspaper," he said. "But I never pursued that interest professionally."

According to Justin he worked for a number of years as a clerk at Sam's Club on Miller Lane and then for six years at the front desk at the Dayton Marriott on Patterson Boulevard. He now is employed by the General Electric Co.

"I am very proud of my son," Alexander said. "He has been very devoted to his parents, and he has a large number of friends. We went to a wedding reception recently and someone told me that Justin had the best personality, and would be good in the public relations business. He always makes everyone around him comfortable."

Concerning the gift of the annual newspaper from his mother Justin said, "It is certainly unusual, is probably the least expensive gift I could get, and is by far the most important. It gives me a running history of life in Dayton as it happened on my birthday for every year since my birth. I consider that incredible."

Dale Huffman wants to know if you have saved old newspapers for any occasion, or if you have a story suggestion for him. This column is for you. Send e-mail to dhuffman@DaytonDailyNews.com or write to Dale at 1611 S. Main St. Dayton, OH 45409. Fax: (937) 225-2489. Phone: (937) 225-2272.