2 Generations of Quadruplets Meet Face to Face

The odds of being struck by lightning are greater than giving birth to quadruplets. But the odds of two sets of quadruplets growing up on the same street? That's even more uncommon.

That's why the Ullman sisters and the Czajkowski girls of Clawson had to take the opportunity to meet each other in Royal Oak on Wednesday.

The Czajkowski quadruplets are 14 years old and soon to be freshmen at Clawson High School. The girls – Danielle, Margo, Sara and Stephanie – have quite a few friends who are twins or even triplets, but they had never met another set of quads until this week.

Wednesday, the Czajkowskis were able to meet the 52-year-old quads who grew up just 13 houses away from theirs on Hendrickson Boulevard. One of the Ullman sisters, Martha Stewart, still resides in the house she grew up in with her mother, Julia Ullman. Catherine (Ullman) Burns lives in Royal Oak while sister Marion Claucherty resides in Sterling Heights and Helen Ullman calls Warren home.

“It was kind of fun meeting them and seeing them,” Helen Ullman said. “I don’t know if we can be their mentors, but we’d like to help if we can in some way.”

Raising 4 babies at once not easy

Julia Ullman didn’t find out she was having quadruplets until three weeks before hers were born six weeks premature. Lisa Czajkowski was a bit more prepared, with her set of quads born about seven weeks premature.

Raising a set of quadruplets isn’t easy, the mothers said. It involves a lot of work and patience, but both agreed their girls made it a bit easier.

“It was a lot of work – especially when they were babies – but they got along real well and my husband helped a lot with raising and taking care of them,” Julia Ulllman said.

Czajkowski said the same about her ex-husband, Gerald.

“I was given advice when they were born – to always keep my sense of humor – and I think that’s important to keep,” she said. 

Setting up the meeting

Both mothers were happy to bring their daughters together to meet another set of quads – a rare opportunity.

Stewart found out about the younger quadruplets nearly two years ago when they moved to Clawson. The possibility of a meeting was brought up initially but wasn’t revisited until about a week ago. Plans were made and the two sets of quadruplets decided to gather at in Royal Oak on Wednesday.

“I think it’s a weird coincidence. Somehow we were led to the same street another set of quads grew up on, and my girls will be attending the same school they did,” Lisa Czajkowski said. “Call it coincidence or fate, it’s something unique.”

The Czajkowski girls were a bit shy at first so the older quads insisted on mingling at dinner and sitting next to the girl who corresponded to their birthing order. Each member of the party was given a chance to ask questions many took advantage of the opportunity.

“I would like to think that they probably did take something away from last night,” Lisa Czajkowski said Thursday. “But since they’re 14, they may not know what exactly they learned yet.”

Relationships of the quadruplets

One of the questions Stewart recalled one of the Czajkowski girls asking was how the dynamic of their relationship would change as they grew up and moved out of their shared house. For Stewart, the relationship with her three identical sisters has stayed pretty much intact, she said. The majority of them talk on a daily basis, three of them are still on a bowling league together and all of them meet on regular occasions.

“We’re not just sisters, we’re kind of like best friends and it seems like they feel the same,” Stewart said.

For the Czajkowski sisters, the thought of being separate is foreign. They all share one bedroom with two sets of bunk beds, just as the Ullman quads did while they were growing up. They share many of the same friends, play the same sports and are musically inclined.

“You are never lonely growing up,” Danielle Czajkowski said.

Stewart said the same and Helen Ullman added, “We never had the opportunity to grow up as an individual so we don’t really know anything different.”