‘We could start our own town’: Couple welcomes 100th grandchild

Leo and Ruth Zanger of Quincy, Illinois, have been married for 59 years. They raised 12 children together born from 1956 through 1984. They also have 53 grandchildren, 46 great-grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild.

In April, their latest blessing was welcomed into the world: their newest great grandchild, Jaxton. With the addition of Jaxton, the total number of grandchildren is an even and remarkable 100.

“The good Lord has just kept sending them,” Leo Zanger told the Herald-Whig. “We could start our own town.”

“There’s always room for one more,” added Ruth Zanger.

Most of the close-knit family lives in the Quincy area and hold their family gatherings at a church hall. Many of them also work together at the family’s real estate business, Zanger and Associates. They say they love spending time together and have a solid system of who brings what food items to the get-togethers.

“We’re all really close,” said Austin Zanger, father of Jaxton. “We get together a lot. There’s always a lot of interaction. We spend a lot of time with each other. I know there are a lot of families half of our size who only get together maybe once or twice a year.”

Austin Zanger and his wife, Ashleigh, feel a bit special for being the parents of grandchild number 100; however, Leo and Ruth Zanger  say that they have a special bond with all of their grandchildren.

“All the grandkids know us,” Ruth Zanger said.

And that is something very important to her and her husband as their family continues to grow.