Six generations of women were photographed in one room as the 98-year-old matriarch of a Kentucky family met her great-great-great-grandchild for the first time from her nursing home.
On February 24, MaeDell Taylor Hawkins, 98, held seven-month-old Zhavia Whitaker while surrounded by her daughter and grandchildren.
The photo, posted by the matriarch’s granddaughter Gracie Snow Howell, quickly went viral.
‘We thought it was special because it’s all girls,’ Gracie, who co-starred with MaeDell, said.
MaeDell’s daughter Frances Snow, grandchildren Gracie Snow Howell, great-granddaughter Jacqueline Ledford, and great-great-granddaughter Jaisline Wilson appear in the viral photo. Sheryl Blessing, her granddaughter, took a photograph.
Gracie remembers MaeDell’s long life; she will be 99 years old in July.
MaeDell married her first husband, a 50-year-old railroad worker with ten children from a previous relationship, when she was 16 years old, according to Fox News.
According to Gracie, her husband, Bill Taylor, was constantly traveling on business, but the couple managed to conceive 13 children together. Taylor’s ex-wife died during the birth of twins.
MaeDell and her husband were not rich and did not have running water or other contemporary conveniences like washing and dryer.
‘I know she had a tough life, but she never complained,’ Gracie told People.
Gracie also stated that, despite MaeDell’s lack of luxuries, she has never heard her mother, Frances, complain about a lack of food or clothing.
MaeDell not only left a legacy through her offspring, but she also passed down her famous tomato preserves recipe.
Gracie told Fox News, “If somebody ever asked me what my best memory of Grandma is, it’s her tomato preserves.” ‘They were just the greatest.’
MaeDell’s devotion to and sacrifice for her family has laid the groundwork for future generations.
‘If everything goes well, the baby is doing good, Grandma is doing great,’ Gracie told the news site.
According to Fox, the Kentucky grandmother has 106 grandkids, 222 great-grandchildren, 234 great-great-grandchildren, and 37 great-great-great-grandchildren spread throughout the United States.
