‘It may never happen again’ — Family hits five living generations

By Nicola Ceccato

Nov 23, 2022

Five generation family: Rodd O'Donnell holding Bentley O'Donnell next to son Zane O'Donnell, with mother Denise O'Donnell and grandmother Irene Gale.

It’s not every day you hear about a family making it to five living generations, but the O’Donnell family have shown it’s not impossible.

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On August 2, the family reached five generations with the birth of Bentley O’Donnell whose arrival created a staggering 93 years and 11 months difference between himself and his great-great-grandmother, Irene Gale.

Irene’s daughter, Denise O’Donnell, finds herself fortunate that she’s been able to see her family get to the size it has and that her mother has been there to witness it all.

“It's pretty special. It's a milestone really, because not many people get to have five generations,” Denise said.

“It’s my mother’s first time being a great-great-grandmother, my first time being a great-grandmother, my son Rodd’s first time being a grandfather and my grandson Zane’s first time being a father, so it’s a first for everything.”

Born to parents Zane O’Donnell and Shelby Lowden, Bentley’s birth marked a five-generation milestone on Shelby’s side too.

Additionally, not long after his birth, the O’Donnells celebrated another addition to the family.

“My brother, his granddaughter has just had a little boy six weeks after Bentley was born, making Mum a great-great-grandmother twice over within six weeks,” Denise said.

“We’re just grateful to still have Mum around and that she’s still in reasonably good health so she was able to meet them.”

It should be no surprise that the secret to the O’Donnells’ five-generation family is to have kids young.

Each generation had their children in their early to mid 20s, making the feat easier than it might seem.

With most of the family spread out across the Goulburn Valley and regional NSW, they were finally able to come together in late October so Irene could meet her great-great-grandson and take a photo together.

“It was such a lovely day, and when we got the photo taken that was just done casually,” Denise said.

“That was one of my main aims when we got together, we had to have a photo of the five generations because I think that’s really important for not just our grandkids, but for Bentley too.

“Down the track when he has children he can say, ‘I was the one who made it so that we had five living generations in our family’ because it may never happen again.”