A 99-year-old woman is delighted to meet her 100th great-grandchild.
Marguerite Koller of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, is the mother of 11 children and has 56 grandchildren, which soon led to 100 grandchildren.
“It was a race to 100,” Stokes Balster, now mother of two, explained to Good Morning America. “My cousin Colleen and I were just a day apart [for] our due dates, and she had the 99th great-grandchild, who is absolutely healthy and beautiful. So, you know, just grateful, blessed to have another few babies joining this great family.”
The newest baby of the bunch was born a week after his due date, weighing in at 9 pounds, 6 ounces.
The Balster’s kept the baby’s name a secret until birth, but there was a lot of careful consideration placed into the name.
“We wanted to do like a name that was equally significant,” Patrick Balster, the father of the new grandchild, told GMA.
“I’ve always loved the name Cole. And Chris one day was like, ‘Hey, how about Koller? This could be baby number 100 for great-grandmom.’ We thought about Koller and we went for Koller William … William Koller was her grandfather’s name [Peg Koller’s late husband, who died in 2008]. And then ‘William’ is also on my side of the family, I’m fourth-generation William, middle name. So, we’re like, it just made sense. It felt good.”
Now, it was time for baby Koller to officially meet Marguerite, making him the 100th grandchild, a major milestone!
“I’m just thinking about how lucky I am,” she told People, as she held her newest addition to the family.
“You could feel the emotion and the gratitude and [she] just felt blessed again that she got to hold yet another great-grandbaby, and this one named after my grandfather,” the mom of two added.
Not only was the 100th grandchild a milestone, but Marguerite meets 100 years of age this coming November!
“Faith and family really get her going,” Stokes Balster said. “She is present no matter what is going on and however old she is. I mean she never misses a graduation, a baptism, a wedding, a book moment at grade school. Whatever it is, she’s always there.”
Two major milestones have been met, and this beautiful family matriarch continues to grow and flourish, with Marguerite Koller at the center of it all.
