Famous Quadruplets
Last week…well not the entire week, just Thursday was totally queer! I found myself in a quandary with my Alphabe-Thursday post. You can read about it here.
It’s pretty safe to say, I am quackier than a duck, but I didn’t allow this quirk to stop me. I demanded quiet time as I composed a brand new post for Miss Jenny. Why you couldn’t have paid me a quarter to quit. The satisfaction of completing my piece wrapped me like a quilt in the end. A quitter never shall I be!
Quadruplets are rare, but did you know these births occur once in 670,000 pregnancies?
A single birth is a miracle in itself. The excitement and thrill of such an experience can’t be expressed unless you’ve had this blessing bestowed upon you.
Can you imagine what it’s like to give birth to four babies at the same time? This isn’t such uncommon thing in our time to learn about, but what if were the early 1900s? Today’s post will feature some of the U.S. earliest recorded quad births where the babies lived to adulthood.
In Hollis, Oklahoma on June 4, 1915, they introduced their little darling identical twin girls.
Meet Roberta, Mona, Mary, and Leota Keys. The grand miracle these small babies were for the time they were born became instantly famous. These precious national treasures appearance at state fairs and early TV programs for the curious minds to get a glimpse of such a marvel. Their celebrity status earned them a free college education at Baylor University in Waco, Texas where they graduated in 1937. The last known Key quadruplet alive, Roberta – 91, was asked in 2006, how she would like to be remembered. She said, “As somebody who gave back.” Read: Quadruplets A Rarity in 1915; Blessings Times Four
First US Quadruplets Fought in Korean War
UPDATE: 2-6-2014 I was quite surprised to find in my in-box this morning an email from the ABCD Quads’ great-niece, Midge Singleton Powers. She kindly sent a photo of the twins as infants, see above, and I wanted to share this with you.
Edna A, Wilma B, Sarah C, and Helen D Morlok were born May 19, 1930 in Lansing, Michigan. The hospital where they were born offered name inspiration – Edward W. Sparrow Hospital and their middles names – letters A, B, C, and D indicated their birth order. They were the oldest-living quadruplets in 2001 when they celebrated their 71st birthday.
This set of quads all shared the same first letter in their names, “J”. Meet, Joan, Joyce, Jeraldine, and Jeanette Badgett. They were born February 1939 in Galveston, Texas and gained instant fame at their birth. The Baylor University awarded these little sweethearts with scholarships, the Sarsfield Publishing Company published paper dolls in honor of the Lone Star cuties and were given honorary status in three organizations. They were featured in advertisements for US war bonds during WWII. By the time they graduated high school their celebritiship died down and were able to lead normal lives. All four quads married, two remained their hometown of Galveston and two moved to Dallas.
Having multiple births always appealed to me… somewhat. Hind-sight provided crystal clear 20/20 vision, as I realized some years ago raising twins, triplets, quads, or quintuplets would’ve been more challenging – financially and emotionally thanI first thought. God says in His word that He won’t give us more than we can handle. I guess this is why my babies only came in single shots, which I must say I’m indeed thankful for!
For more ‘Q’ posts, visit Miss Jenny.
Now that class is dismissed, I’m hopping over to Self Sagacity to visit with Amanda and to link up in today’s fun.
1. What is the queerest thing you’ve ever seen? The most memorable and strange thing I saw was a streaker, which I wrote about here.
2. What’s the latest quacky thing you did that you can tell us about without too much embarrassment? Oh! This is easy and it happened just this week. Read about it in, I’m a Moron.
Have a quaint day surrounded by the people or things you love most for a quintessential Thursday!
Warm wishes from the Queen of screw ups
17 Comments
Jenny
I used to want to have quads or quints or any combination of more than one.
Then I had kids.
And ummm…
Not so much!
Thanks for quite a qute link for the letter “Q”.
I always love visiting you!
Hugs and A+
4kids, 2 guinea pigs, 1 happy family
Great post, so interesting!
I’m just pondering what to post for R!
x
bluegrassnotes
Love all the “q’s”
Jo
That was an interesting post, I enjoyed your take on “Q”!
JamericanSpice
Oh and the twins, I’ve always wanted to have twins, I hope I do this time so I can be done, but not sure how I’d do with quads.
Pretty interesting though.
JamericanSpice
1. A donkey on the stroll. I’m used to seeing those in my country. Here in AMerica city , it’s the weirdest thing and I just want to know more.
2. I’m not sure I did anything quacky. I don’t have BFFs to get me in trouble 🙂
Have a lovely weekend!
Monica
What an interesting post! We have five kids. Our youngest three are very close in age. (two of them are barely 11 months apart) For a while all three of them were in diapers at one time – I can’t even imagine what actual triplets would have been like!
Jesh StG
Thanks for doing the research on the Quadruplets! Great info:)
beckyp
I am a twin and my mom was a twin as well. I always wanted twins but now I am glad I just had single births. I have a two year old boy and could not imagine having another one let alone 4
Jim
Hi Cathy ~~ A nice Q post you have written.
1. The queerest thing that happened to me was when we though a brick or rock had been thrown through our front window. We heard ad loud crash and tinkling sounds like falling broken glass.
It turned out that a large picture which hangs in the hall way had fallen off the wall. It had to slide behind a table with stuff on it to get to the floor.
We were so scared! Finally we tip toed into the living room to check on things when it all stayed quite for a spell.
2. My sister and I both QUACK at ducks when we pass. We also meow at cats, bark at dogs, squeel at pigs, crow at roosters, sing at birds, etc. For a while neither of us knew that the other was doing this. 🙂 XD
..
Donna Heber
Very interesting post for this week. Luckily only twins run in my family and not quadruplets!
anitamombanita
Oh that was interesting. I have friends who had triplets and THAT was almost a circus just keeping them fed, diapered and everything else. I can’t even imagine four at a time!
Rocky Mountain Woman
I agree about one at a time being enough! The parents with multiple births seem to handle it all quite well however….
edenhills
I can’t imagine four at once. I always thought twins would be fun until I saw my sister pregnant with them. Oh my. One is plenty.
Coralie Cederna Johnson
QUITE an interesting post about QUADS!
Love it!
Happy Q day!
Coralie
Marti
Enjoyed your information about quads. Now days we don’t think so much about it, but before modern medicine, and facilities it certainly is a miracle. Have a good day.
Self Sagacity
thanks Cathy for the 4timesablessing post. That was very interesting to know.
1) The queer things I saw, usually are people and what they are capable of doing and saying. I think I need to get out a bit and venture beyond my world right now.
2) I do queer things all the time according to my kids. I post queer things on my blog. I dressed queer…I cooked queer, you know…I have stopped trying to be normal to them.
Happy Thursday. Your questions made me laugh, and answering them made me laugh again. Thanks!