QUINCY — What began as a short conversation at a parish meeting ended up with one large Quincy family making international news.
According to his daughter, Donna Lane, Leo Zanger was talking to a friend from St. Rose of Lima Parish in March and commented that he and his wife Ruth were about to become grandparents again — for the 100th time! Thinking that this kind of event would be newsworthy in a town where the Zangers are already very well-known, that man passed the information on to a reporter at the Quincy Herald-Whig.
Reporter Steve Eighinger contacted the Zangers shortly after the April 8 birth of Jaxton Leo Zanger, who is actually No. 46 among Ruth and Leo's great-grandchildren. They also have 53 grandkids and one great-great-grandchild, thus adding up to the 100 grandchildren. Out of all of those grandchildren, there are just two sets of twins.
At first Eighinger's article drew the attention of people in West-Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri. A bit later, the Associated Press picked up the story, which meant that interest grew thanks to the internet. Eventually the story was viewed not only across the United States but also in England, Germany, Ireland and Australia.
"We just thought it would be nice local human interest article," says Lane, who is the fifth of the 12 children born to Leo and Ruth and works at the family real estate business, Zanger and Associates in downtown Quincy. "But now obviously it has gone viral."
Lane says she has had inquiries from ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox News, Good Morning America, The Steve Harvey Show, and numerous major-market TV and radio programs. The Zangers were even the topic of conversation between Live With Kelly and Michael hosts Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan. "Oh, and my parents did a Skype interview with EWTN, so that should be coming out soon," Lane says.
Lane has done her best to field all the calls, but refused two entertainment companies that were interested in doing a reality TV show built around the Zangers. "My parents aren't really into that kind of thing. They don't want to exploit their family."
The Zangers, who have been married 59 years, have a dozen children who were born between 1956 and 1984. In age order the Zanger offspring are Linda, Greg, Debbie, David, Donna, Steve, Mike, Daniel, Ernie, Matt, Chuck and Joe. Because Joe is so much younger than many of his siblings he was an uncle 10 times over before he was born.
Leo and Ruth are very supportive of St. Rose of Lima Parish, Lane says. "Mom and Dad are members there as well as most of the children and some of the grandchildren. The older grandchildren are married and their kids go to Mass with their parents." But if you call any parish in Quincy, chances are the office staff knows someone who is a Zanger and has something nice to say about that person.
In fact, the family is so large that when they all get together for Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Mother's Day and Father's Day they rent out the hall at St. Rose or some other building. Feeding the whole group requires 50 pounds of ham or 10 turkeys and family members taking turns providing lots of side-dishes.
The family is extremely dedicated to Quincy, Lane says. "For the most part, we all live here — kids and grandkids — except for three of the grandkids. And they live one, three or four hours away." Eight of the Zanger family members work at Zanger and Associates, the business Leo started 53 years ago. In that office at 1200 Broadway, dozens of family photos adorn the walls.
Lane is the unofficial family historian who keeps records of births, weddings, anniversaries and phone numbers. She says that although her parents are welcoming to every child, sometimes it gets a bit confusing remembering which grandchild or great-grandchild belongs to whom.
"The name of each child doesn't always come to them quickly, but to be fair there are a lot of names to remember," she says. "Sometimes even I have to look (at the family member) and mentally place them in their (individual) family."
She laughs remembering when she and her 11 siblings were growing up, sometimes their mom — like so many mothers of large families — would call her children by the wrong name. "She'd say about five names and then she'd stop and she says, 'You know who you are!'"
Lane says she is blessed to have grown up as a Zanger. "Really there are so many people who think it is great that we have such a large family," she remarks, adding that the positive comments always outweigh any negative remarks made about them.
"Some people don't understand or aren't used to large families," she says. "But I tell my Dad, 'Ignore any of the bad comments. You have an awesome legacy.'"
When speaking about that legacy, Leo Zanger says, "The Good Lord just kept sending them. We could start our own town." To which Ruth adds, "They all know us. There's always room for one more."
And will the Zanger clan be expanding again anytime soon? "Well, I'm sure we'll have more babies born in to the family," says Donna. "But right now, as far as I know, nobody is pregnant."