Twelve In Family With Fourth Pair Of Twins

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30542, 10 September 1964, Page 11

Twelve In Family With Fourth Pair Of Twins

Six days ago a Kaiapoi mother gave birth at the Kaiapoi Hospital to her fourth pair of twins in nine years. With four other singly-born babies she now has 12 children under nine years old. Mrs R. McAlister said she and her husband were very proud of and happy with their family. The eldest are eight-year-old twins, Peter Priscilla, followed by Carol, aged seven, and Anthony, aged six. Five years ago the next twins, Susan and Sandra, won Mrs McAlister a refrigerator as a Four Square birthday gift. The only identical twins in the family, Paul and Gilbert, will be four in a week’s time.

Helen, aged 2|, and Sally, now on the verge of walking at 14f months, were the youngest until the arrival of

the new twins, a son and a daughter, last week. When first married, Mr and Mrs McAlister lived in Wellington. They later moved to Christchurch and then to Kaiapoi three and a half years ago, where they built a four-bedroomed home in Otaki street. Mr McAlister is employed as a dragline operator by a Kaiapoi firm. Mrs McAlister, who is nearly 30, is interested in making the children’s clothes, listening to music and helping with the family garden. She is a member of the Kaiapoi Plunket Mothers’ Club. Mrs McAlister paid a tribute to the Huntsbury Children’s Home, where seven of the children are staying while she is in hospital. The eldest daughter is having treatment in the Christchurch Hospital, Sally is in a foster home found by the Presbyterian Social Service Association, for a fortnight, and Helen is at home with her father. The new twins, said Mrs McAlister, will be named Shirley Christine and Michael Rex. The double birth had been expected, as had the births of the earlier twins. Both she and her husband have family histories of multiple births, including twins, triplets, and quadruplets. Five weeks premature at birth, fair-haired Michael weighed 41b 15oz, and Shirley, who is dark haired, weighed 41b 4oz, the lighest birth weight in' the whole family. Later this week the twins will be taken to Karitane Hospital for a while.