14 DAY TRIAL // Peggy Koller is a 91-year-old woman from Philadelphia with an inspirational life story. She grew up an only child and even considered entering a convent and becoming a nun at one point, but ended up having a big and happy family with no less than 126 direct descendants.
Among her direct relatives, the nonagenarian counts 11 children, 56 grandchildren and 59 great-grandchildren, with five more on the way. With that many relatives, her schedule is always busy, but she never misses a family event, as most of her family lives close.
She spends almost every weekend attending a graduation, wedding, baptism or communion involving her family.
“I have two graduations coming up. I had another one from Villanova last week. Last Saturday, I had a wedding in North Jersey and on Sunday my daughter gave a shower for her daughter-in-law. That's the way it goes,” she told ABC News.
Before marrying her husband William in 1942, Peggy even considered a life of celibacy, but in the end, decided not to join a convent and ended up welcoming 11 children into this world. Together they opened the Koller Funeral Home in Philadelphia in 1946, which is now run by two of their children after William's death in 2008.
All her children are still living, and the majority of them remained in the Philadelphia area, where they were born and raised, so the great-grandmother is able to see her grandchildren and great-grand-children quite often.
And despite the large group, the elderly woman knows all of her grandchildren by name and stays up to date with each of them. She has been dubbed the family's social director, as she has everyone’s cell phone numbers and knows everyone's comings and goings.
“She is definitely an inspiration,” said Lauren Naldzin, one of Koller’s granddaughters. “She was working while running the family and she was an only child who created this family with my grandfather.”
Koller, a Blue Bell resident, still lives by herself and performs exercises every morning. She attributes her longevity to the healthful practice and to the fact that she has an active life.
When it comes to her large but united family, she says they always stayed so close due to her and her late husband’s faith.
“My husband and I always had a lot of faith in God, and I think that just helped because we figured we were doing the will of God and he would look out for us, and he did. It’s like [there were] little miracles all throughout my life and big ones, too,” she explained.