Couple Married For 61 Years Reveal The Secret About Family Making National Headlines

Jan 10, 2019 by apost team

Some of us come from a large family. With more cousins, aunts, and uncles than we know what to do with, having a large family really makes us feel like we are part of something greater than ourselves.

This is certainly true for the Zanger family. However, calling theirs a "large" family is an understatement for all the parents, grandparents, cousins, aunts, and uncles that make up the Zanger family tree. It all started when Ruth and Leo Zanger gave birth to 12 kids! However, their penchant for parenting didn't end there. While they stopped at 12 children, the Zanger kids went on to get married and have several children themselves. 

The family kept on expanding until Leo was able to celebrate his 100th grandchild being born as he turned 79! What a milestone! With so many years of child rearing under their belt, Ruth and Leo were also blessed to see another incredible moment: 61 years of a happy marriage.

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As the years go on, the Zangers only grow in the love they have for each other. Even with 61 years of being married and raising children, it's quite incredible that both grandparents remember all of their children and grandchildren's names. For anyone else, the sheer size of the Zanger family would be difficult to comprehend, let alone trying to remember all the different names.

The truth is, however, that if the Zanger family were to put all their names into a phone book, they would have their own page. As wild as it sounds, Ruth and Leo have, in total, one great-great-grandchild, 48 great-grandchildren, 53 grandchildren, and 12 children. What a family! With so many children in the family, it came as a shocking surprise when the 100th child was born. Ashleigh and Austin, the parents of the 100th Zanger Jaxton, were even surprised by this fact.

It was Donna Zanger Lane, the family's "historian", that uncovered this incredible fact. Thanks to Donna, the Zanger family has an accurate record of these groundbreaking moments, as well as a way to stay on top of names, numbers, anniversaries, and birthdays. While the family is so large that they could spread out anywhere in the world, most of the Zangers live around Quincy, Illinois.

Some of them even work alongside each other. Having everyone in such close proximity makes for huge family gatherings! From Christmas to Easter, there is never a holiday that the Zangers don't gather together to celebrate being a family.

What a beautiful story! What did you think of it? Leave your thoughts below and pass it along to friends and loved ones.