By
Ed Pierce
Dave
Rampino isn’t much of a betting man, but maybe he should be. On June 4, the
Windham Public Works Department truck driver hit the jackpot in finding
something many search a lifetime for -- a four-leaf clover.
Rampino,
who’s worked for the Town of Windham for 17 years, was moving a snow plow at
the Public Works facility when he saw a patch of clover near the curb. Stopping
to look through the clover patch, he found not one, two, three, but actually four
four-leaf clovers and one five-leaf clover in a span of about five minutes.
“I
was doing a walk-around of my plow truck when I saw the clover patch,” Rampino
said. “I always looked for four-leaf clovers as a kid and thought I’d look over
there too.”
Legend
has it that St. Patrick of Ireland once found a four-leaf clover and gave it to
his friends telling them that it was put there by God with the first three
leaves representing faith, hope and love and the fourth leaf representing luck.
St. Patrick is said to have used the shamrock, or three-leaf clover, to his
followers to describe God’s Holy Trinity.
Ancient
Celtic priests of Ireland believed that by carrying a three-leaf clover or shamrocks,
they could ward off evil spirits and in time the shamrock became forever associated
as a symbol associated Ireland and the Irish people. Four-leaf clovers were described
in Celtic literature as “magical” and capable of producing instantly good
fortune if discovered, and finding a five-leaf signified that enormous wealth
was coming your way.
The
website www.thescienceexploer.com estimates that the odds
of finding a four-leaf clover at 10,000 to 1 and lists the odds of finding a
five-leaf clover at more than 1 million to 1. Scientists say because clover
plants do not naturally produce four-leaf plants genetically, that’s what makes
four-leaf clovers a rarity.
According
to Rampino, the morning of June 4 was the first time he looked through the
patch of clover near the truck yard since the Windham Public Works Department moved
into a new 30,000 square-foot facility on Windham Center Road last year.
“I
think all this dirt was brought in here and the area was reshaped. I don’t know
what they used to seed it with,” he said. “This particular patch might actually
be wild clover coming out of the nearby woods, but I’m really not sure about
that.”
Looking
for lucky four-leaf clover has become a ritual for Rampino over the years, even
though he’s not Irish.
“I’m
as Italian as you can get,” he said. “In my job, I work on the side of the road
a lot and in a lot of ditches. I guess that looking for four-leaf clover has
become a second instinct of mine wherever I go.”
He
said he plans to give the lucky clovers to younger family members to bring them
luck and keep one of them for another idea he had.
“Think
I’m going to go out and buy some Powerball tickets,” Rampino said. “Finding
these four-leaf and five-leaf clovers is really lucky and you just never know.”
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