This 98-year-old matriarch finally got to meet her first great-great-great-grandchild in her expansive Kentucky family.
MaeDell Taylor Hawkins held seven-month-old Zhavia Whitaker this past February for the first time.
Granddaughter Gracie Snow Howell posted a photo of the moment that has since gone viral. MaeDell has more than 620 grandchildren today between the children of her own daughters and their children’s children.
“We thought this was special because it’s all girls,” Gracie, who appeared alongside MaeDell, told People.
In the photo is MaeDell’s daughter Frances Snow, granddaughters Gracie Snow Howell, great-granddaughter Jacqueline Ledford and great-great-granddaughter Jaisline Wilson. Sheryl Blessing, Hawkins’ granddaughter, took the photo.
MaeDell will turn 99 in July.
She was married in 1940, at the age of 16, to a 50-year-old railroad worker with 10 children from a previous relationship, Fox News reported.
Bill Taylor, her husband, was often away for work. The two still had 13 children together, according to Gracie, and they all lived without most modern conveniences. The family did not have a washer and a dryer, nor did they have running water.
“I know she had it hard, but she didn’t complain,” Gracie told People.
Gracie continued to say that she never once heard her mother, Frances, complain about a lack of anything in their family home.
As seen in this photo of 6 generations of women, MaeDell’s support and love clearly have led to generations of happy, healthy women and children.
“If everything goes well, the baby’s doing well, Grandma’s doing well – we’re all going to meet back in June and get another picture,” Gracie told Fox News.
According to Fox, the Kentucky matriarch has 106 grandchildren, 222 great-grandchildren, 234 great-great-grandchildren and 37 great-great-great-grandchildren living across the US.
