Texas: The upcoming total solar eclipse on April 8 is generating excitement among stargazers across the United States. Among them is an eclipse fanatic who’s chased 20 total solar eclipses around the world: Leticia Ferrer, a 63-year-old woman living in North Texas. In 1991, Ferrer travelled to Mexico to see her first total solar eclipse. Since then, she’s travelled to all seven continents and six oceans to see 20 total solar eclipses – Ferrer hasn’t missed one since 1998. She's a proud eclipse chaser or umbraphile.
“I'm addicted to that feeling of…being one with the universe and being really present and feeling it,” Ferrer said. “And then, of course, there's always the planning for the next one. My life is measured in eclipses.”
Ferrer, who hosts an eclipse-themed podcast called “Totality Talks,” sets money aside to budget for travel expenses and makes sure to take vacation time for total solar eclipses from her telecommunications job.
Unlike other total solar eclipses, Ferrer and her husband Daniel Brookshier won’t need to travel far for the April 8 event, because the Dallas area where they live is within the eclipse’s path of totality. Ferrer said that hasn’t happened since 1878.
‘No Child Left Inside'
To raise awareness for the upcoming celestial event, Ferrer has travelled throughout Texas speaking to schools, community organizations and whoever will listen. “So, the motto is, ‘No Child Left Inside,’” Ferrer said. “That’s my goal, is to get more people interested in it so they don’t miss this wonderful opportunity.” On Wednesday (April 3), Ferrer gave a presentation to fourth and fifth graders at Frank Moates Elementary School in the Dallas area.
“I think it's going to be scary because it's going to be very dark at, like, daytime,” 9-year-old HectorTeran said. “And I've never seen an eclipse. So, my parents are scared too, because they also never seen an eclipse either.”
Ferrer has pursued her dream of witnessing every total solar eclipse through challenging life events. In 2017, she delayed a procedure following an ovarian cancer diagnosis to make the total solar eclipse that summer. She traveled to Argentina in 2010 for a total solar eclipse after her first husband John Echols passed away that year.
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"He passed and I just said, 'You know what? I watched his dreams die with him and I'm not gonna let my dreams die," Ferrer said. "So, I went to the 2010 by myself." One year later, Ferrer met her current husband Daniel Brookshier on the dating website eHarmony, where she explicitly made her mission of seeing every total solar eclipse clear on her profile. “The ones that didn’t know what it was were just like, ‘Yeah, that one’s crazy,’ the ones that knew what it was and how much it cost, they went away,” Ferrer said. “Daniel was the one that went ahead and looked me up online, saw my videos and said, ‘That’s pretty cool.’”
Brookshier has only missed two solar eclipses since he met Leticia: one during the COVID pandemic in 2020 due to his Type 1 Diabetes and the other in the Antarctic Ocean because he didn’t want to experience the massive waves. Brookshier said he’s looking forward to a local eclipse this Monday (April 8). “I think this is going to be the first eclipse that we didn't have to take two airplanes at least to get to, or in a long ride and two busses and whatever to get to,” Brookshier said. Ferrer said she hopes to make it to age 103 to see her 50th total solar eclipse.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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