Recently, a group of women got together to take a particularly memorable family photo, which featured all six generations.
Gracie Howell, age 58, claims that her 98-year-old grandmother has borne “hundreds of infants” throughout the years. MaeDell (Taylor) Hawkins is pictured in a recent image cradling her great-great-great-granddaughter Zhavia, who was born in December.
We thought this was special because there are only girls here, says Gracie.
In the photo, Gracie is pictured standing with MaeDell, Zhavia, her grandmother Jaisline, her mother Francis, her daughter Jacqueline, and her granddaughter Jaisline, who is also the mother of the newborn.
The grandmother of Gracie will turn 99 in July. She is still “as sharp as a tack,” according to Gracie, and isn’t afraid to “teach you how to take care” of a child.
When “Zhavia grew a bit fussy” during the visit, MaeDell, who is currently a resident of a nursing facility and remains in bed, “swooped her right out of Mama’s arms.”
She continues, “We have a photo of her literally tickling her small feet. Lovely moments.
Gracie admits that her family’s story is “wonderful,” but she denies having any idea that their photo would cause such a stir. She sent the picture to a local meteorologist privately, and after speaking briefly about her grandmother’s life, she claimed to have been “overwhelmed” by the positive response.
Additionally, she adds, it has provided her grandmother with a “wonderful” chance to gain “a little notoriety.”
Even though Gracie thinks her grandma’s life wasn’t always easy, Gracie claims that her grandmother “never heard her whine.”
When MaeDell wed her first husband, he was 50 and she was 16. He spent the majority of the week away from his job at the railroads. She had 10 of his children as her stepchildren, and they had 13 children altogether.
She did not have running water, a dishwasher, a washer and dryer, or other contemporary conveniences. For example, when I was a teenager, she didn’t have running water,” Gracie explains. She asserts that her mother did not ever recall going without a proper breakfast, supper, or having clean clothing available.
She must have had a difficult time, yet she didn’t whine, Gracie observes. She just continued with her day as normal.
And as time went on, the family continued growing. 622 will be the next birth, according to Gracie. She claims it’s a big family.
MaeDell has, in the process, “outlived her husbands” and all but one of her stepchildren.
Gracie continues, “She has lived a full life. Simply put, “I adore her.”