ZELIENOPLE — Gloria Brunner doesn't have a hard time remembering family members' birthdays, anniversaries and graduations. That's an impressive feat considering she's 87 and has more than 100 direct descendants.

Her youngest great-grandchild is only one month old, and the oldest is 27. There are 65 great-grandchildren who gaze up at Brunner on the top of a sprawling family tree.

It's amazing that any of the 14 children, 59 grandchildren and dozens of great-grandchildren are here in the first place, considering Brunner was told as a child that spinal meningitis would prevent her from being a mother.

"The doctors told my parents that if I survived I'd be blind or crippled," she said.

"Two weeks to the day I walked out alive. I think I survived because I was supposed to have all these little ones and that God had a plan for me."

Many memories

Those little ones made for decades worth of memorable Mother's Days in the Brunner household. This year will be the 69th that Brunner will spend with her children.

She's been to dozens of christenings, first communions and weddings. She gazes at the mantle in her living room that is filled with scores of smiling faces and people who wouldn't be here without her.

The holidays were especially interesting, she said, with so many mouths to feed and people to clean up after.

"I love to cook and bake," she said, "and I'm used to having a bit more of everything at the table."

But Brunner remembers a much different time. Born in March 1921, Brunner spent the majority of her childhood in the grip of the Great Depression, when bread was sold for 5 cents a loaf and milk was 8 cents a bottle.

She was raised alongside two brothers and two sisters, she said, but they got by on what they could while her father made $15 a week working in a meat packing factory in Pittsburgh.

She can still remember the shantytowns set up in downtown Pittsburgh during the Depression, when money was scarce for everyone.

"You figure that the wages weren't much at all to begin with, so when the Great Depression hit, they literally had nothing," she said. "There was no welfare back then. They just had to get along the best way they knew how."

Brunner never graduated from high school because of family problems, and her husband quit in eighth grade to work on the family farm.

"Things were a lot different back in those days," she said. "Children have more opportunities today."

Managing money

Her late husband, Joe, whom she married at age 17 after meeting him at a church dance in 1938, also worked in a meat packing plant in the city. It was hard feeding so many children in different stages of development and growth, but the family always stayed strong and stayed together, she said.

"We got through it with God and faith, family and love. It wasn't easy raising such a large family, but it was very rewarding," she said. "We managed with what we had and learned to conserve, knowing deep in our hearts that God would provide. We depended on each other."

Joyce Adomaitis, 59, was the sixth of Brunner's 14 children. She remembers venturilhhhhng with her mother in the late 1950s to downtown Pittsburgh for new Easter and back-to-school dresses. They were never extravagant shopping trips, she remembered, because the family didn't have money to waste.

But her mother has led an incredible life because she prospered through hard times and tough situations. Brunner's perseverance gave Adomaitis the chance to raise six children and 14 grandchildren herself.

"She considers her life an amazing adventure because of how she grew up," she said. "She never thought she'd get married and even have great- grandchildren or travel as extensively as she had."

Adomaitis, of Zelienople, won't say she grew up in a poor household, because it was far from it. The family might have been dependent on one man's meat packing paycheck, but they always were taught to conserve and be thankful.

"We were taught that if we had a problem we should pray, and if we didn't, we should pray and be thankful that we didn't have a problem," Adomaitis said. "It was a very moral household."

Living legacy

Brunner is at the top of a family tree that's produced people like her son, Ed, who was a policeman in Washington, D.C., before he retired in North Carolina. Another son, Don, was a full colonel in the military and now lives in Virginia and teaches social studies in grade school.

Her youngest son, Gary, lives in Texas, while the majority of her daughters live nearby and still visit her frequently.

Adomaitis takes her mother to church every Sunday while another daughter takes her to lunch once a week.

Brunner's oldest daughter, Janet, passed away last year, and Brunner's husband died in 1989. But with 65 great-grandchildren, there's a lot of opportunity to welcome new members into the family.

"Our family tree just keeps growing and blossoming," she said. "They just keep coming along here and there. Sometimes, I sit back and I chuckle and say to my husband 'Look what we did.' God always provides if you try to live right. It's not easy but it's done through patience and love.'"

Brunner takes no medication, is in excellent health and continues to stay active by playing cards with friends, going to church, visiting her daughters and traveling.

Brunner has achieved many goals in her life, but she said she still has one more left.

"Her goal is to live to 100 and that's in God's hands, but she's not going to give up," Adomaitis said.

"She's is an amazing woman, and all of my brothers and sisters would tell you that. Everyone in the family is very proud of her."