Bio: Moeller, Mr./Mrs. Allen (Quintuplets - 1980)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Moeller, Mills, Reindel, Baer, Walski

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 2/14/1980

Moeller, Mr./Mrs. Allen (Quintuplets – 9 February 1980)

Not many people in the world ever become great-grandparents in their own lifetime but there are even fewer who become great-grandparents five times over in just one day. Mr. and Mrs. Glen Mills, owners and operators of Mills Clothing, Loyal, received this unusual honor last Saturday when their grandson Allen’s wife, Patricia, gave birth to quintuplets in Chicago.

The father of the bouncing babies, Allen Moeller, 26, is the son of former Neillsville resident Jake Moeller, Jr. And the grandson of Helene Reindel and the late Jake Moeller, Sr. Helene, formerly of Neillsville, is now the wife of Glen Mills. Aside from being known in the area for their clothing store, the couple can now lay claim to the fact that they are probably the only surviving great-grandparents of Quintuplets in the world.

Mrs. Mills said that, at first, when her son called to tell about the possibility of a multiple birth, “we thought Patricia was imagining things and we didn’t believe it could be possible. Before Christmas, Patricia had sent us the ultra-sonic pictures. You could see the five heads. There was only one mistake in the information from the pictures; they first believed there were three boys and two girls,” Mrs. Mills explained. There were actually four boys and one girl, she added.

The babies arrived two and a half months, premature, but news was expected at any time. It was about midnight Saturday when Mrs. Mills awakened, and only moments later the phone rang.

“Usually Glen answers the phone but that time, I did.” She said: Her son had just gotten home and made the call to let them know that everything was in good order.

“Allen’s birthday is February 4 and now the quints’ is February 9,” said Mrs. Mills. Their wedding day was on February 26, which is Patricia’s birthday, too.

“They will be in the hospital until mid-April, according to plans now,” she said. “We will be going to see them as soon as it is best for the babies.”

Allen and Patricia had called other parents of multiple birthday to find out what was in store for them. Among those they called were Lynn and James Baer, who were parents of quints in January 1973, and Linda and Keith Walski, Romeoville, who had quadruplets in December of 1978. The couple had been warned about publicity and weren’t surprised when photographers came to see them at the hospital.

With the more perfected techniques for caring for premature newborns, more quintuplets have survived in recent years. Among the more recent born in the United States were the Davis quints, born July 18, 1975, to Jerry and Debbie Davis, Lewisville, Tex.

In 1963, four girls and a boy were born to Andy and Mary Ann Fischer, Aberdeen, S.D. They became the sweethearts of the nation as America’s first surviving quintuplets.

The first on record to survive were the Dionne sisters, born in 1934 to Olivia and Elizire Dionne in a farmhouse in northern Ontario, Canada.

Now added to the list are the Moeller quints, which includes Allen Jr., weighing 3 pounds, 2 ounces; Mark Patrick, weighing 2 pounds, 7 ounces; Nicholas John, weighing 2 pounds, 14 1/2 ounces; David Thomas weighed 2 pounds, 15 ounces; and Elizabeth Rose, weighing 2 pounds, 3 1/2 ounces. The first two were born by natural birth and the other three by caesarean section. They are expected to be in the special care nursery for several months, Mills said.

Patricia has used fertility drugs after she and her husband heard of normal birthday from several of their friends who have used similar drugs. The couple decided would be no problem if they had twins. After learning several weeks ago, however, that there would be more than two, they moved from their apartment to a five-bedroom house on the north side of Chicago. The Moeller’s also have a three-year-old daughter, Jennifer Rebecca.

Knowing that it will mean a change in the lifestyle of the Moeller’s a hospital spokesman said a fund had been set up to help the family. Allen works as a technician for the ADT Security Systems in Chicago.

In addition Allen Moeller, Mrs. Mills has two other grandchildren. She also has four stepchildren and four step grandchildren.