Ruth and Leo Zanger with their 100th grandchild,
Jaxton Zanger. (Photo: Phil Carlson/The Herald-
Whig)
Imagine being part of a family so huge, that
celebrating holidays means renting out a hall
just so there’s enough room for everyone. And
with hundreds of birthdays and anniversaries
to remember, one family member has to be the
official record-keeper tasked with tracking
them al
That’s what life is like for the Zanger family o
Quincy, Illinois. Leo Zanger, 79, and wife Ruth
have been married for 59 years and have 12
children, 53 grandchildren, 46 great-
grandchildren, and one great-great
granddaughter.
The April birth of latest great-grandson Jaxto
Leo Zanger means that the Zangers have an
incredible 100 grand- and great-grandkids,
almost all residing in the Quincy area. Severa
work for the real estate business Leo Zanger
founded in 1962 and continues to run.
The proud patriarch takes his mega family in
stride; one entire wall in his office is filled
with family photos spanning several
generations. “I guess I’m biased, but having a
big family is a lot of fun,” Leo tells Yahoo
Parenting.
“So many babies have come over the years,
you just get used to it, and we enjoy seeing
them and being with them so much,” he adds.
Leo and Ruth Zanger, center, are surrounded by a
fraction of their 100-plus descendants
The Zangers didn’t set out to have a family
that could be dubbed 100 grandkids and
counting, Donna Lane, Leo and Ruth’s
daughter, tells Yahoo Parenting. But after
getting married at ages 19 and 16
respectively, the couple had a hunch they’d
produce lots of kids, says Lane. “Mom always
said she’d like to have as many as God
allowed,” she adds.
Lane is child number five for the Zangers,
whose first daughter, Linda, is now 59, while
youngest son Joe is the baby at 31. “He was
already an uncle 10 times over by the time he
was born,” she says.
With so many members, you’d think this
family would have some epic arguments. But
Lane says they all get along very well,
regularly gathering for Christmas,
Thanksgiving, Easter, and a combined
Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. (Birthdays
come so frequently, they tend not to be
celebrated with every family member, says
Leo).
“We don’t have issues with sibling rivalry
because our parents encouraged us to work
things out and be close,” says Lane. “And no
all the younger cousins hang out too: they go
to school together, they’re on the same ball
teams.”
Of course, keeping track of so many Zangers
isn’t easy. Lane is the designated record-
keeper of birthdays and anniversaries, and sh
often reminds her parents about which kid,
grandkid, or great-grandkid’s birthday is
coming up. “My dad sees them all often, but
with so many people, occasionally he needs a
reminder about a name,” says Lane.
And with some of Leo and Ruth’s own childre
still young enough to have more kids, the
number of descendants is bound to keep
growing. “There’s always room for one more,”
Ruth told local newspaper the paper
the Herald-Whig .

Nice

They are really fruitful and multiplying.

May i live to see my great-great grandchildren IJN