Lucy Seaver, Lawrence, turned 88 on 8/08/08. Despite the number of eights in her life, Seaver says her lucky number is four.

8/8/08. It’s a date viewed to be lucky in Chinese culture, and thousands of people in the United States have also attached some significance to the unique calendar entry.

Lawrence resident Lucy Seaver has her own reason for calling the day lucky – she turned 88 on 8/8. “I think it’s very neat,” she says.

While admitting that this birthday was one for the memory bank, it wasn’t the one that stood out as her most memorable. That distinction belongs to Aug. 8, 1936, the day she turned 16 (or double 8). Seaver’s mother invited 16 of her friends to take part in a surprise birthday party. She remembers how upset she was about the party, telling her mother that she didn’t like surprises.

Growing used to the big birthday celebrations her mother threw, Seaver said that if her mother were alive today, she would surely invite all of the neighbors over to join the celebrations.

Her mother was present only in memory Friday, but Seaver was able to spend the day with three other generations of her family. She says she feels fortunate to have lived long enough to get to know her great-grandchildren and continue her care for her husband, Clarence. “I knew that I needed to live this long so I can take care of my husband, and I have, ” she said.

Seaver didn’t have a birthday wish list. “I am more interested in peace of mind and (that) we’re as well as we are,” she said.

One might expect Seaver’s lucky number to be 8. She and Clarence began dating on March 28, 1938. They have been married 68 years. But when asked what her lucky number was, she replied, “Our lucky number has always been 4.”

Perhaps it is fitting, then, that there were four babies born on Aug. 8, 2008, at Lawrence Memorial Hospital.