Dad of 18 has bragging rights

BATTLE CREEK, Neb. — Willard Kuchar's house bustles with activity.

At the kitchen sink, one of his daughters rinses dishes. Another coos at his youngest grandchild, Grace, a bright-eyed baby girl who is not yet old enough to crawl. Yet another daughter sits down to talk with him as he finishes his lunch. The daughters often stop by his place.

“These are my eyes and my ears,” the 90-year-old Battle Creek resident says, smiling at his children. “We had nine girls; we lost one. But they're all just sweethearts.”

And his sons? The gleam in his eyes makes it obvious that Kuchar is proud of them, too. All nine of them.

That's right. Nine daughters. Nine sons. Eighteen children in all. As Father's Day approached, Kuchar talked about the joy his large family has brought him.

“I don't like to brag, but if I was going to brag, there would be a lot to brag about,” he said.

Kuchar said he and his now-deceased wife, Lucille, started out with “nothing.” After a simple wedding at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Battle Creek in 1942, they took a brief honeymoon to Grand Island, returning with $3, a roof over their heads, a folding table and orange crates to sit on.

Their oldest son, Charles, was born 10 months after the wedding. Tim came along a short while later. Marianne followed, and then Steve, Lee, Dennis, Jim, Beth, Lucie, Will, Marg, Judith, Rick, Jeanne, Rita, Joe, Ed and Maureen. Each was a single birth.

Over the years, Kuchar worked three jobs: for Behlen Manufacturing in Columbus, farming near Meadow Grove and manufacturing products from his home. It took two cars to get everyone to church. To attend school, the school-age children squeezed into the family station wagon for the 15-mile drive from their home near Meadow Grove to Lindsay Holy Family School.

Every night, they would dine as a family. A rosary always followed the meal.

Kuchar recalled playful times with his children, saying he “loved to give them stuff.”

And his daughters laughed as they described the free-for-all that would ensue when their father would dump a large bag of candy out for the kids.

There were rough times as well. In 1971, daughter Beth died of leukemia, but the family members counted on one another for support.

Daughter Lee Martischang said their solid faith and reliance on one another have helped make them a successful family.

“You were never lonely,” she said. “If you wanted time and wanted to be alone, they let you. But to this day some of my best friends are my sisters.”

After Kuchar retired at 52, he began milling his own wood and handcrafting clocks, tea carts and other wood items. Over the past several years, he has made more than 800 clocks.

He and his wife also began traveling, taking several trips abroad and one trip around the world. After his wife was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, Kuchar cared for her in their home until her death in 2006.

Kuchar enjoys and makes time for his children — and his 93 grandchildren and 67 (and counting) great-grandchildren. Although they don't occur frequently, family reunions are held in a rented hall.

“I've seen other families where half of them take off if the others show up, but not mine,” Kuchar said. “Our children love each other.”

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