Next May Eugene (Gene) and Dorothy Richard will celebrate seventy years of marriage. Their love was confirmed over those years by many blessings from God and their family. And for those around them, Gene and Dorothy have been a guiding light on the joys that big families and strong faith can provide.

It all started at the local dance hall, Crystal Ball, when Gene saw Dorothy across the room. She had discerned religious life for two years with the Poor Clare Sisters, but more recently had come to know God was calling her to be a wife and mother.

“Dorothy had a red dress on that she had sewed herself,” remembered Gene, “It was made of corduroy.” Although he had met her before, that night confirmed for Gene that Dorothy was the one he was looking for. He was 22 and she was 20. In the 1950s, they thought that they were pretty old to be getting married.

With Gene in the service, the newlyweds moved to a base in Germany. While both came from large families—Gene was the baby of 14 and Dorothy was the fourth of ten—they didn’t plan on a big family. “We accepted the will of God for us,” Gene said, “We are open to God’s gifts.”

They also didn’t plan to encounter Servant of God Therese Neumann while in Germany. The Richards visited this mystic and stigmatic on a rainy Good Friday in the late-1950s, for a brief meeting that the couple sees as a moment of grace. They believe this holy woman’s intercession has supported them in their marriage and family life. Soon after the meeting, their first child, Angela, was born.

Ten more children followed, and the family moved to a farm near the parish of St. Remy in Russia, Ohio. Raising a family in a rural setting had its advantages. “They always had something to do,” laughed Gene, “You didn’t have to wonder where they were.”

Later in life, Gene encouraged his grandkids to collect unwanted rocks from the farm when they visited, rewarding their efforts with milkshakes. Today, the grandkids are a little taken aback to learn that great-grandkids get Grandpa’s milkshakes without performing any labor.

Farm life was the perfect setting for Dorothy and Gene’s values of hard work, straightforward honesty, generous hospitality, and a deep trust in God, and it was modeled to the Richards’ children by their parents. As a snapshot of this: it is the family practice to pray the rosary on one’s knees in the kitchen after a hearty dinner, and that practice persists in the family today.

Their legacy includes 68 grandchildren from Dorothy and Gene’s 11 children, including a priest for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Fr. Elijah Puthoff. Currently Parochial Vicar for the St. Carlo Acutis Family of Parishes between Dayton and Cincinnati, he was especially good at helping Grandpa with those rocks.

As of this writing, Gene and Dorothy have welcomed their 101st great-grandchild, Henry Francis Richard, into their family. They only recently celebrated the birth of Gabriel Gene Hochstetter, the 100th great grandchild, this past summer. By next year, Gene and Dorothy expect to meet their 110th grandchild, and hope their “expecting” numbers only increase in the coming months.

The family’s abundance of children are a source of joy and the best blessing one could ask for in a marriage, said Gene. “The pinnacle of love is a child.” And the excitement around a new baby never gets old for them. Their children and grandchildren particularly remember Dorothy’s reaction each time they announced they were expecting. She was as giddy as the mom-to-be and absolutely lit up.

Gene and Dorothy Richard are a testament to the beauty of the vocation of marriage. Through their openness to God’s plans and delight in family life, they have passed that joy on to their children and grandchildren. The couple’s example of living the Christian values is, then, benefiting even the growing next generation—all 110 of them. ✣

This article appeared in the November 2025 edition of The Catholic Telegraph Magazine. For your complimentary subscription, click here.