80-year-old from Zug and her 11 siblings set Guinness World Record

With a total of 1,042 years of life, the D'Cruz brothers and sisters are the oldest 12 surviving siblings in the world. One of them has lived in Zug for a long time. Teresa Hedinger-D'Cruz (80) tells her touching family story.

They are 12 siblings and, together, add up a total lifetime of more than a millennium – to put it exactly: a total of 1,042 years and 315 days as of 15th December 2020. The average age of the nine sisters and three brothers is around 87 years. This extraordinary circumstance has now brought them an entry in the list of Guinness World Records – as the 12 oldest surviving siblings in the world.

The third youngest of them has lived in Switzerland for 55 years, and in Zug for 30 years: Teresa Hedinger, née D'Cruz, is now 80 years old. She recapitulates the truly special, almost 100-year history of this unique extended family.

Her eldest sister Doreen was born in 1923 in Karachi, Pakistan, which was then British India. 11 children were born to the parents Michael and Cecilia D'Cruz at intervals of one to three years each. All were and remained healthy and well. Even Teresa, who was born prematurely in the 7th month, remained robust enough to survive at that time, despite the reduced medical possibilities. She is convinced: "I certainly owed this to the great love of my parents."

Wrapped in cotton wool and bedded in a shoe box, she was always well-protected. "We all showed extraordinary resilience," she says.

They needed this, because their father Michael died when Teresa was only 7 years old. The authorities threatened to take the younger children away from the mother, "but since the older ones were already working and making money, they were able to  take care of us smaller ones, and so we were not separated." The circumstances welded the siblings together in a particularly strong way, and established the very close family ties that still exist today. The deep bond even helped the siblings in the difficult times following the political reorganisation on the Indian subcontinent: the Muslim state of Pakistan was founded and, from one day to the next, they became a Catholic family in a Muslim state. "We then had to put up with discrimination on a daily basis," recalls Teresa Hedinger. "This also affected the economic aspect: Catholics could hardly find any jobs with a future."

Photo 1: Teresa Hedinger-D'Cruz (80) and her daughter Sandra have been living in the canton of Zug for a long time.
Photo 2: World record: together, the 12 D'Cruz siblings have a total lifetime of 1,042 years.
Images: PD

It started with a "blind date"

As a result, one sibling after another emigrated in the 1960s – and some of them already had their own families. Most of them moved to Canada, which, after a change in the law from 1962, provided good conditions for immigrants of other ethnicities. Only Teresa didn’t make it to the North American continent.

A "blind date", as she now mischievously calls it, set a very different course for her: a friend of hers knew the Swiss businessman Alfred Hedinger, who was staying in Karachi for business and worked there for a Swiss company. "There was a festive event, and my friend just took me along with her. That's where I met him." They fell in love, and she followed him back to Switzerland – with all her humble belongings packed in a single suitcase. "I left the Indian subcontinent for the first time ever," says Teresa Hedinger.

The new beginning in Switzerland was not easy – the language barriers and the reservations of the Swiss towards strangers were special challenges. But here too, she and her siblings were helped by their natural robustness – they all found a foothold in their new destinations, both economically and socially.

Alfred and Teresa Hedinger-D'Cruz lived with their family in the canton of Zurich for 25 years, and moved to Zug thirty years ago, where Alfred had his job. "We found a nice apartment here that gave us everything we needed," says the 80-year-old. Zug has long been her home, and her social life is important to her - she regularly plays golf and bridge, and is a committee member of the Bridge Club Zug. She says that she has achieved fulfilment and satisfaction In Switzerland. "A friend once asked me where I actually feel at home, because I lived in Karachi for a long time and my family is now mainly on the North American continent. My answer was clear: in Switzerland." Her daughter Sandra (51)  can confirm this: "Mum is the most patriotic in the family," she says, laughing.

Intensive care of the family ties
What has remained unabated over the decades is the close tie between the family, which has overcome borders and distances as if they didn’t exist. Since their spatial separation in the 1960s, the 12 siblings, living on two continents, have been in regular, close contact. Initially by letter, occasionally by telegram or long distance call. Mutual visits and family reunions were organised, preferably every five years. Teresa's daughter recalls: "Even as a child, I noticed that the family reunions took place without much fuss, but they were always marked by a lot of cheerfulness and humour. And there was always lots of music." The most recent family reunion in Canada in October 2019 could be the last in this form, Sandra Hedinger suspects, with the Corona pandemic making any further get-togethers more difficult until further notice. In addition, the eldest brother, Patrick (*1925), is seriously ill with cancer.

But the modern means of communication make it possible for the siblings to remain in constant contact: "We meet every day via Zoom, at 5 p.m. Swiss time and 11 a.m. Canadian time," says Teresa Hedinger. Even the one sister who now lives in San Diego, California turns up whenever possible. As a religious family, they first say a prayer together. Then they talk, sing and laugh or cook together.

"It's the most beautiful moment of the day, especially for the older ones among us."

And if children and children are present, they also take part in the happy family meeting via the ether.

The "recipe" for their longevity
Spatial distances have thereby never affected the deep bond of the 12 D'Cruz brothers and sisters. What could be the cause of their robustness and longevity? Sandra Hedinger tries to answer this from the point of view of the younger generation: "On the one hand, it's probably just a huge dose of luck. But when I watch my mother, uncles and aunts, I think it is surely also their resilience, sufficiency, humour and cheerfulness, all the mutual love and the great cohesion that make them so strong."

The Guinness World Record entry reads: The highest combined age of 12 living siblings is 1,042 years 315 days, and was achieved by the D’Cruz siblings.

This world record has been one of the highlights of their lives, it continues. Sandra's mother Teresa is convinced that the record entry has, in fact, given many of the siblings a further boost of vitality and lust for life. "The excitement and joy in the family was great." And herself? As the third youngest of the D'Cruz siblings, what does Teresa want for the next 20 years? "Quite simply. That I can stay healthy and remain as active as before."