Bancroft woman has all the luck

June 23, 2016

Patty Card stands with a bouquet of clovers she picked just the night before her photo op with the This Week.

By Sarah Sobanski

Lifelong Bancroft resident Patty Card might just be the luckiest woman in town.

At last count, Card had found over 1,200 four-leaf clovers in Bancroft.

Card can’t help but stumble across the internationally recognized symbols of luck. She’s found so many she’s stopped counting.

“Ever since I was a kid, I was always picking them up,” said Card. “Not just four-leaf clovers, but five-leaf, six-leaf, seven-leaf and eight-leaf. The biggest was a nine-leaf. I always thought they were cool to find.”

Card has been collecting four-leaf clovers since she was a little girl. At 12 years old, she was featured in the local paper for her collection of 315 four-leaf clovers. Each was tucked away and preserved in wax paper.

Many of the clovers were found at Card’s childhood home on Gaebel Road. Her parents, Pat and Barry Munro previously of Munro’s Trading Post, wanted to see how their daughter’s collection measured up across the globe.

In the winter of 1981, the Munros mailed a letter to Guinness Book of Records describing the collection. It turned out four-leaf clovers were not as rare as they suspected.

“We have quite a large number of letters on the subject of multi-leaf clovers,” read the letter reply from correspondence editor for Guinness Book of Records Colin Smith later that year. “It is really a common misconception that clovers almost invariably have three leaves.”

The letter went on to state that the misconception might stem from the taxonomic name for clovers, which is Trifolium.

The letter added, “We have had many letters about the gathering of four and five leaf clovers in small areas in short periods but we are advised that this is not of any botanical significance. In the course of these researches, we have had a report of a housewife who picked no less than 943 four-leaf clovers and 98 five-leaf clovers between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. from an area of 19 square yards of lawn.”

Card explained she finds clovers as easily today as she did in her youth. She finds clovers at her home on north of Hwy. 62 and along sidewalks.

“They’re in the clover patch,” laughed Card. “If you find one, don’t stop looking.”

When asked if Card agreed that she was lucky, the knowledge that four-leaf clovers are common didn’t affect her answer.

“I’ve just figured out that I am lucky,” said Card. “I have amazing friends, an amazing family, and a great job. I live in Canada. How much more lucky can I be? Life is good.”