BY MARY KAY SWEIKAR
WESTVILLE — Lillie Guiliani, 93, of Westville, has much to be thankful for today. But she’s especially thankful for her 171 descendants — and most of them live in the area.
That includes nine children, 33 grandchildren, 80 great-grandchildren, and 49 great-great grandchildren, with a set of twins on the way in December.
In fact, there are so many relatives they have to get together in the heated shelter at Forest Glen Preserve for Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. When they gather in Grandma Guiliani’s living room, the children sit on laps, some adults sit on the floor or stand, and others congregate on the front porch.
“Family always comes first,” Guiliani said. “It keeps me young to have so many kids around. I wish I could go back to the time when my children were small.”
But she’s the first to admit that life wasn’t always easy while raising nine boys and girls.
This mother birthed her children over a span of 25 years. “That’s the only way we could all fit in the house,” she said. “When some of the kids left home, only then did we have enough room to have more kids.”
Guiliani was pregnant with her youngest son, Michael, at the same time her daughter, Edith, was expecting her third child. And when Michael was born, he already had six nieces and nephews.
Also, Guiliani was pregnant with her youngest daughter, Julie, when her oldest daughter, Charlene, was expecting a baby.
In addition to raising her kids, Guiliani worked evenings for 29 years as a waitress and cook at the old Baker’s Italian Restaurant in Danville. For many years her pay was only $40 a week. “Those days were rough,” she said, “but we got by.”
“The kids slept two to a bed, and my husband, Albert, and I always had one of the little ones in bed with us,” she added. Albert, her first husband and the father of all her children, worked as a cook at what was then the Veterans Administration hospital.
“That way he could watch the kids while I was working,” Guiliani said. “He was one father who changed his share of diapers.
“And those were cloth diapers that I scrubbed on the washboard. Things have really changed nowadays in the way you raise kids.
“But it never hurts to give them a swat on the backside. I believe in making kids mind.
“We didn’t have all this fancy baby equipment either,” she added. “Kids weren’t required to sit in car seats; they just all piled in the car wherever they could fit.”
Guiliani rarely hired a babysitter because the older siblings took care of the younger ones. She also taught them all to cook.
“Before we left home, we all learned how to peel garlic and make spaghetti sauce,” her daughter Nancy Roseman said.
This 93-year-old keeps so busy she doesn’t have time to worry. “I just take one day at a time and live my life,” she said.
She has never worn glasses and doesn’t use a cane or walker. She also swears by the fish oil supplements that she takes every day.
Computer savvy
Guiliani does all her own cooking, cleaning and laundry, and she also keeps up with the latest in electronics. She has owned a cell phone for years and is a computer enthusiast.
“Mom is up to all hours of the morning chatting with people online, or else playing cards on one of the game sites,” Roseman said. She also has a Facebook page.
She’s had several computers since she got hooked on them some nine years ago. And she wants Santa Claus to bring her a laptop computer for Christmas.
Checking e-mail is the last thing that Guiliani does before she goes to bed and the first thing she does upon awakening. She definitely has a bad day if her computer or Internet service aren’t functioning properly.
“A couple years ago a guy I met online drove up here all the way from Texas to see me,” Guiliani said, “but I didn’t open the door for him. I imagine it was a long drive for him back to Texas.”
Guiliani gave birth to her first four kids without leaving the house. “I was all dressed up in my fur coat and ready to go to the hospital when my first son, Charles (Butch), was born right at home,” she said.
Her husband was away in the service at the time, so her parents helped bring Butch into the world. “I bet there aren’t many women who have given birth in a fur coat,” Guiliani said with a smile.
A loyal fan
Her kids refer to their mother as feisty, and a good disciplinarian.
“When we wanted to discipline our children, we told them we would call Grandma,” Roseman said, “and that made them behave.”
Guiliani has been a loyal fan of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren when it comes to their sports events, in-cluding football, horseshoe tournaments, track and cross-country and wrestling meets.
The one thing she won’t do is fly in a plane, saying, “I like to keep both of my feet on the ground.”
Lately, Guiliani has spent many afternoons at family baby showers.
She still bakes fudge, candy, cookies and Amish friendship bread, and prepares spaghetti sauce for her entire family.
Born and raised in Danville, Guiliani is a longtime member of Holy Family Church. She was one of six children, the daughter of a coal miner who was killed in a mining accident as a young man.
She has outlived three husbands and has eight living children. They include Charlene Guiliani of Norfolk, Va.; Nancy Roseman and Janice Harden, both of Danville; Butch Roseman of Westville; and Linda Davidson, Edith English, Julie Cramer and Michael Mullins, all of Georgetown. Vernon Roseman, formerly of Danville, is deceased.
