THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 2, 1995 TAG: 9505310237
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JANE HARPER, CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 197 lines
DEV AND DAVID GOLT are used to being bombarded by questions from people who've just found out that they have 10 children.
Among the most asked, according to the Chesapeake couple: ``Are you crazy?'' ``How many of them are yours and how many of them are hers?'' and ``Are you Catholic?''
Their answers: No, they're not crazy. Yes, the had all the kids together. And no, they're not Catholic.
What they are, the Golts say, is lucky.
``I feel very blessed,'' Dev Golt said recently as she watched three of her children at a school wrestling practice. ``I wouldn't trade my kids for anything.''
In fact, Dev and David often joke that they probably would have had a few more kids if they had married a few years earlier.
In this day and age when many couples opt for just two or three children, such talk - and action - is indeed unusual.
``I always wanted a dozen boys,'' David said. ``However many girls came along the way didn't matter.''
Before the first boy arrived, however, the Golts had five girls. Two more girls and two more boys followed, bringing the total to seven girls and three boys.
Sabrina is the oldest, at 17. Then there's Dianna, 16; Wendy, 14; Brandy, 12; Samantha, 10; David Jr., 9; Tabetha, 8; Frederick, 7; Faith, 6; and Levi, 4.
So, given his dozen-sons dream, is David disappointed he had so many girls?
``Not at all,'' he said with a big smile and glimmer in his eyes. ``All I ever really cared about was that they were healthy.''
The only factor that stopped the couple from having more kids was concern for Dev's health and the health of any future child. When Dev gave birth to Levi four years ago, she was 42. The Golts decided then that it was probably too risky for her to have any more.
Although all of their children are healthy, Dev did have some rough times during some of her pregnancies and births. She gained as much as 110 pounds during two pregnancies, and had to deliver six children by Cesarean section.
Two of her newborns weighed over 10 pounds at delivery. The pregnancy of her second youngest child, Faith, was the most troubled, ending with Faith being born two months premature.
Faith spent weeks in and out of the hospital before she was able to stay home for good. It was her parents' ``faith'' that she would pull through the ordeal that led to her name, they said.
Today, all the children are strong and energetic. At a recent trip to Oscar F. Smith High School, which the three oldest girls attend, the little ones chased each other around in a field while the older ones practiced with their teams.
Sabrina plays on the softball team, Diana runs track and Wendy plays soccer. Brandy, David Jr. and Frederick take private wrestling lessons.
Dev, who played field hockey, basketball and softball when she was growing up in Delaware, has encouraged her children to also participate in team sports.
Dev and David go out of their way to be at their children's games and tournaments, often arriving at work early so they can take off in time to get there. Because they sometimes have as many as three games scheduled for an afternoon or evening, the couple often bounces from one event to the next.
On one recent day, for example, they dropped three of their children off for a 4 p.m. wrestling practice at Oscar Smith High. Next, they went to a 4:30 p.m. softball game in Portsmouth, and then rushed back to Chesapeake to watch a 5:30 p.m. soccer match at Great Bridge High School.
Luckily the baby-sitter, who was taking care of their three other children, also has a child on Sabrina's softball team and brought them to the game.
``I think it's important that we're there,'' Dev said. ``It means a lot to the kids. I know that they look for us.''
The family is well known at the childrens' schools, where they often get ribbed about having such a big clan.
``There's a rule at this school: No more than eight Golts here at a time,'' Sabrina's softball coach, Shane Smith, shouted jokingly to Dev and David as they walked outside the Oscar Smith gym with several children in tow.
Those who know the family are amazed at how well the couple has raised so many kids.
``You can easily see these two people are really good folks. They really go the extra mile,'' said Tom McMillan, who coaches three of the Golt children in wrestling. ``I don't know how they do it. All their kids are really good kids. They're hard-working kids.''
The children also do well in school. All of them earn high marks on report cards - especially Samantha, who is in her school's gifted-student program. She hasn't earned anything less than an ``A'' and has never missed a day of school, Dev says proudly.
Not surprisingly, Sabrina's in ``Who's Who,'' a roster of outstanding students. Dianna's in the National Honor Society and Wendy is an honor roll student. David also has earned straight A's.
The family also has avoided any broken bones or severe illnesses. There have been plenty of stitches along the way, however.
``Stitches usually come in threes,'' David said. ``If one gets them, there will be two more coming.''
Despite the teasing they often get, Dev and David are proud of their big family. The license plate on David's pick-up truck reads, ``DADOF10,'' while Dev's says, ``MOMOF10.''
Even the two oldest children, who have their own cars, have carried on the tradition. Sabrina's car tags reads, "1STOF10,'' and Dianna's is, ``2NDOF10.''
David grew up the middle child in a family of seven children. He said he enjoyed being in a big family, and always knew he wanted a lot of children of his own.
Dev, an only child, didn't feel she missed anything by not having any siblings. But she loved children and knew she wanted plenty of her own.
They married June 18, 1976. Their first child was born just over a year later, on July 16, 1977.
``I cried the first three months that I was married because I wasn't pregnant,'' Dev said. From then on, the pregnancies came often and fast. The average age difference between the kids is about 14 months.
As much of a joy as the children have been, David and Dev concede it hasn't always been easy.
David spent three years in the Marine Corps and another 17 years in the Navy before retiring several years ago. While in the service, he was often gone for months at a time.
He went on nine Mediterranean cruises that usually lasted about six months and one that lasted almost 11 months. He also went on five Caribbean cruises and two North Atlantic cruises, each lasting about six weeks.
``I'd much rather have been home with the family,'' he said.
David and Dev felt strongly that she should stay home with the children to raise them during their early years. That often meant extra jobs for David, including cutting lawns, working on cars and picking up aluminum cans.
But when David retired from the Navy, the couple wasn't sure what the job market would be like for him. So Dev decided to go back to work.
She is an assistant director of nursing at Sentara Nursing Center in Carrituck, N.C., about a 45-minute drive from their Chesapeake home. David now works as maintenance director at Chesapeake Nursing Center.
Dev usually doesn't get to bed before 11 p.m. and leaves the house at about 5 a.m. each weekday for work. The three oldest girls help prepare the younger ones for school.
The children also help around the house in the evening, taking turns doing the dishes, putting out the trash and handling their chores.
Dev estimates that the family does about two dozen loads of laundry on the weekends.
``The washer definitely eats socks,'' she said. ``We can't keep up with socks and washcloths.''
They go to the commissary to buy groceries, spending about $250 a week. They go through about two gallons of milk and two loaves of bread a day.
Dev says she's become a smart shopper, clipping coupons and looking for sales. Christmas and birthday shopping is a year-round event, she said.
While Dev says she has no trouble keeping up with all their birthdays, David admits to keeping a cheat sheet in his wallet.
Sometimes when one child is misbehaving, David will call out the wrong name, he admits. ``They'll keep doing whatever it is they're doing until you get the right name,'' he said.
Planning and scheduling also are important to keeping the household afloat, Dev said. She plans meals a week in advance and keeps her children's events marked on a calendar at work. Going out to eat is a rare event.
``We look for specials when we go out to eat, like kids under 6 eat free,'' she said.
Friday nights are usually family nights. Dev usually will rent a video for the family. But as the children have started entering their teenage years, it's getting more difficult to assemble everyone together, Dev said.
And what do the children think of having so many brothers and sisters? Most of them just shrugged when asked. ``We don't know what it would be like any other way,'' most said.
``There's always someone to play with,'' Samantha said.
And the worst part about being in such a large family? ``Faith is always wearing my clothes,'' Samantha chided.
The older girls said privacy can be a problem, especially when they're trying to talk on the phone. Sabrina said, however, that she's so used to noise she can't study in the library. ``It's too quiet,'' she said.
Most of their friends only have one or two siblings and think that it's ``neat'' to have so many brothers and sisters, Dianna said.
Dev and David agreed that one of their toughest parenting roles is ensuring that each child is treated the same and that none feel left out.
Talking about the good times is much easier. Asked about his favorite times, David laughed: ``Father's Day,'' he said. Turning more serious, he said, ``When they come and tell you they love you.''
``The hugs and kisses,'' Dev said. ``That's what I like best.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Cover]
A FULL HOUSE
[Color Photo]
Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
Staff photo by MORT FRYMAN
All in the family? Well, all except one child. From left, third row:
Sabrina, father David, mother, Dev, Wendy; second row: Freddie,
David, Tabatha, Faith; first row: Levi, Dianna and Brandy.
Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN
Dev Golt keeps watch on Freddie, left, Faith in her lap and Tabatha,
right, while other siblings wrestle at practice.
At a softball game, Samantha and a friend, Carrie Lynch, left, work
on their algebra assignment.
Sabrina Golt pitches for the Lady Tigers of Oscar Smith High.
Staff photos by MORT FRYMAN
Brother and sister rough-housing, but it is OK in this situation -
Brandy and David are at wrestling practice.
by CNB