Even Ripley probably wouldn't believe it.
But 17 years ago, a mother and two daughters all gave birth to children on the same night. At the same hospital. Delivered by the same doctor."We still can't believe it," says Maureen Johnson, who delivered a daughter that night.
Daughters, sons, mothers, fathers and grandparents all got together Saturday night at the Chuck-a-Rama at the Fashion Place Mall to talk about old times. In specific, old times on Oct. 23, 1972, when an event occurred so unusual it may never have happened before or since.
The bizarre coincidence began when Maureen Johnson, already the mother of nine children, checked into the Cottonwood Hospital to deliver her 10th child. "When I got there I saw my daughter's car parked there and thought it was an interesting coincidence," Johnson said.
Johnson delivered a girl first at 6:09 p.m.; her daughter Kim Kelsch, now 34, delivered a boy at 7:56 p.m. Then things turned really bizarre: Another daughter, Cherrie Morrison, now 36, checked herself into the hospital and delivered a daughter at 4:19 a.m.
"I don't know what the odds of that happening are," Johnson said, "but I know I've never read anything like it since."
Today, Terry J. Kelsch, 17, is a junior at West Jordan High School. His cousin, Krista Morrison, 17, is a junior at Wasatch High School in Heber City. And their aunt, Shannon Johnson, 17, is a junior at Bingham High School.
"You'd think they are triplets they are so close," said Johnson, 56, 13820 S. 3045 West.
And they had better be: They have been sharing the same birthday parties almost every year for 17 years. "It's become a family tradition," said Johnson.