Two decades, 15 kids: Falls’ Ruh takes motherhood to a new level

In today’s technology-driven, hustle-and-hurry world, family time is often compromised amid the daily grind of work, school and general household duties.

However, for Sheboygan Falls resident Dorothy Bantz Fleming Ruh, a supreme devotion to family has been a way a life for the last 59 years.

From 1950 to 1970, Dorothy gave birth to 15 children within a 20-year time span.

Along with her late husband James Fleming, Dorothy raised the children in a home, located at 512 Pine Street in the city of Sheboygan Falls.

Just four months after her last child was born, she welcomed her first grandchild into the world.

Today, she has 34 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

Her intriguing story is one filled with patience, perseverance, understanding, caring, strength, courage and love.

Shortly after her recent 80th birthday celebration, Dorothy reflected on her amazing life as a mother of 15 children, as well as a wife, grandparent, great grandparent, friend, Bemis factory worker, church member, volunteer and Golden Cordeliers singer.

“I never envisioned having 15 kids,” Dorothy said. “I thought six would be a nice number.

“I was the youngest of six siblings and I have several friends with large families,” she said. “Back then, families were generally larger. Having a large family now is quite out of the ordinary these days.”

Of her 15-child clan, 12 live in the Sheboygan County area.

“I am very fortunate to have so many of my kids live so close to home,” Dorothy said. “They live all over the county – Sheboygan Falls, Sheboygan, Oostburg, Random Lake and Plymouth, which is great for me.

“I have one living in Green Bay and two that live in Florida,” she said.

Originally from Milwaukee, Dorothy graduated from Pius XI High School in May 1947. Following her graduation, she went on to marry her husband of 49 years James Fleming in May 1949.

The Fleming family welcomed the first of their 15 children when their eldest Tom was born June 20, 1950.

Over the next 20 years, five boys and 10 girls were added to the Fleming household – Bill (Green Bay), Joanna (Oostburg), Steve (Sheboygan Falls), Sue (Deland, Fla.), Sandy (Deland, Fla.), Bob (Sheboygan), John (Random Lake), Kathy (Sheboygan Falls), Patty (Sheboygan Falls), Chris (Sheboygan Falls), Connie (Plymouth), Denise (Plymouth), Carol (Sheboygan Falls) and Maggie (Sheboygan), who was the last to be born in June 26, 1970.

“All of the kids came from single births, except Sue and Sandy, who are twins,” Dorothy said. “The closest gap between the kids is 11 months.”

After living in Fond du Lac for several years, the Flemings moved to their Pine Street home in Sheboygan Falls, when James landed a sales job at Moorman Manufacturing, which produced livestock feed.

To accommodate the large Fleming family, a few renovations were made to their historic nineroom, three-bathroom Pine Street home, which son Tom now lives in.

“The house initially served as the city library, a grocery store and a nursing home, so it had quite a history before we moved in,” Dorothy said. “We added some closet space and remodeled the kitchen and family room to make way for our large family.

“Eight girls lived in what we called the girls’ dorm, which had two double beds and two sets of bunk beds,” she said. “The boys slept upstairs.

“We had up to 14 kids living in the house at one time. It certainly got interesting at times, and as you can imagine, it often got rather loud.”

Aside from some occasional disagreements and a few heated confrontations, Dorothy said the kids got along as well as could be expected.

“All the kids got along amazingly well,” she said. “I know the boys got into sometimes, mainly when I wasn’t around.

“A few of the kids had a quick temper, but we will not name names. Honestly, I think there were times I was not aware of what was going on, especially when they were older. I kind of tuned it out and let them work through their disagreements on their own.”

The house was not without its share of broken rules and subsequent punishments.

Dorothy admits to unveiling some strict disciplinary tactics from time to time.

“The kids were often grounded, and I admit to having a quick hand and washing some mouths out with soap a few times,” she said. “Once the punishment was over, that was it. We never dwelled on it or brought up the situation again. We just moved on.”

Dorothy said husband James had a strong disciplinary presence as well.

“The girls would often be up making noise and fooling around at night,” she said. “James would always tell them that he better not have to go to their room, or they would wish he hadn’t have.”

Along with a large family comes added responsibility for each sibling.

“I don’t think the kids resent the additional responsibility,” Dorothy said. “They knew they couldn’t go anywhere until their work around the house was done.

“I am glad they went through that, because I think it made it much easier for them, when they went out on their own,” she said. “They already had the ability to take care of many household duties, daily chores and real-world responsibilities.”

In 1975, the household dynamic changed substantially when Dorothy took a job at Bemis Manufacturing.

“At that time, we still had 11 kids in the house, with the youngest one being 4 years old,” she said. “I started part-time and eventually went to full-time for 17 years, until I retired in 1993.

“When I went to work, there were definitely adjustments that had to be made. Joanna was in high school at the time and had a seventh-hour option, so she could come home early to help prepare the evening meal and take care of the younger kids.”

Often working second shift, Dorothy prepared evening meals before heading to work. She relied on the eldest girls to help with a variety of evening duties.

“The older kids generally did a great job helping out,” she said. “The evenings normally involved the older girls helping James serve supper and clean up the