June Sheehan of Bathurst shares her life as a mother, grandmother and great grandmother to 112

From countless moments spent in the playground at St Philomena's Catholic Primary School to endless everyday occasions, Mrs Sheehan's younger self had constantly dreamt of being a mother.

Now as she nears 94 years of age, Mrs Sheehan - who is the daughter of Jim and Kathleen Turnbull - has 112 offspring through her 14 children, 46 grandchildren and 52 great grandchildren.

And of those 112 are 56 males and 56 females.

"I often call them all a different name before I get the right one. I would often say John, Michael, Keith - oh, whatever your name is," Mrs Sheehan laughed.

Her life as a mother, grandmother and great grandmother began at a chance encounter on her 16^th birthday with a man by the name of Frank Sheehan.

"He was my sister's boyfriend's friend. He came to our place and when they said it was my birthday, he said 'oh sweet sixteen and never been kissed'. He grabbed me and gave me my first kiss," Mrs Sheehan said, who was born on June 22 in 1929.

After some time between the fateful meeting and their reunion following his return from the Army, Mr Sheehan and June, who was then Miss Turnbull, got engaged during January of 1948.

It was one year later when the couple tied the knot on a wintry Bathurst day on July 9 in 1949, some time before the eventual birth of their 14 children - John Sheehan, Maureen Jones, Michael Sheehan, Peter Sheehan, Keith Sheehan, Wendy Trotter, David Sheehan, Jim Sheehan, Helen Bower, Robert Sheehan, Jenny Bird, Kathie Bestwick, Terri Watkins and Karen Meek.

"We always said we were going to have at least nine [children]. I wanted twins from the time I was a tiny little thing, all I wanted was to have babies. I was one of seven and he was one of eight so we decided on nine," she said.

Mr Sheehan rejoined the Army sometime after their marriage and had spent most of his working life in the defence force.

The Sheehan's had lived a happy life as a married couple for 58 years until Frank's death in 2007.

Although Mrs Sheehan was delighted to have the sizable family she had always dreamed of, she had one unfulfilled wish; to have a set of twins.

Mrs Sheehan recently put pen to paper to count how many were in her family, and after some time recalling the family tree, she found the males had led the count by two, up until one fateful moment.

"It was only just a few days before that I was working it out and thought 'I need another two girls' to make it even. When Mark rang to say they were having twins, the first thing I said was 'make them girls'," Mrs Sheehan laughed.

"I'm very excited, particularly now both girls are doing well. They were two months preemie ... they'll be three months in March. The smallest one was under a kilo born and the other was only a bit over one and a half kilos."

The last time the entire family got together was on Mrs Sheehan's 90^th birthday in June of 2020, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We can't all get together very often now, the last time was at my 90th birthday party, but it's so great when we can," she said.

While they may span from Bathurst to the Central Coast and Western Australia, Mrs Sheehan said her family are close and have always lived by three pillars - love, care and respect, along with a memorable family saying.

"Frank's saying was always 'we haven't got much money but boy we have lots of fun'. When he died, I said to the kids 'what are we going to have put on his headstone?' and they all said that," Mrs Sheehan said.

If Mrs Sheehan could sum up her life in one word, it would be 'wonderful'.

"I think my life has been wonderful. I have been very happy and I am very lucky to have all my family around and caring about me so much, I love them all," she said.

"They are all I live for."

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