Mother’s Day is a time to celebrate mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and for one family in Wilmington, great-great-grandmothers.
Rose Sciuto, 96, recently became a great-great-grandmother with the birth of Kaden Paul on April 21. With two children, four grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren, and baby Kaden, Sciuto’s family now spans five generations.
“Nobody believes five generations,’’ said Sciuto. “I got married at 18 and had a baby the next year, but nowadays people don’t have children right away.’’
“It’s something you really rarely see,’’ added her daughter, Carolyn McGinn.
Sciuto never worked, instead staying home to raise her two daughters, Carolyn and Maryann. She mentioned that things have certainly changed since then, since mothers today often work as well as raise children.
She said that Kaden’s father, Kyle Sweeney — her great-grandson — has two good jobs and is able to support the family so that Kaden’s mother, Alyssa, can stay home with the baby. That is “lucky’’ and “a blessing,’’ as many families today do not have that opportunity, Sciuto said.
“Mothers have it easier now,’’ she said, citing the ease of using disposable diapers as an example. “But they also have it harder, since they have to work. I don’t know which is worse, today or years ago.’’
Though it may have challenges, Sciuto said that the experience of motherhood is “wonderful.’’
“I’ve had a good life,’’ she said. “I was married 50 years, I have the best family ever. God blessed me.’’
Sciuto was born in Malden, only moving to Wilmington to live with McGinn and her husband 12 years ago. When she was a young girl, she said, she remembered her aunt being featured in the now-defunct Boston Post for being a great-great-grandmother. She used to admire her aunt’s age and prayed that she, too, would one day have such a big family. Now, the story has come full circle.
“My mother said to her doctor, ‘Please preserve me until April so I can meet my great-great-grandson,’ ’’ said McGinn. “And God answered her prayers.’’
Christina Bagni can be reached at christina.bagni@globe.com.
