Pennville family drew Italian TV

Twenty-five years ago this week, a foreign television crew made a visit to Jay County.

The Dec. 9, 1995, edition of The Commercial Review featured a story about the crew’s visit to Pennville to interview the Geesaman family for a Christmas segment.

The project stemmed from a story in The Commercial Review in August 1995 that featured Drema and Richard Geesaman and their family. The couple had gotten married in June, blending together into a family of 14. (Each of them had six children.)

The initial story was picked up by The Associated Press.

“It has been all over the state,” Richard said.

A shortened version later ran in The National Examiner. That piece caught the attention of RAI Corp., an Italian Broadcasting System with offices in New York City.

“it was a nice family story,” said RAI producer Franco Schipani. “It’s like, ‘I love you, but I have six kids’ and she says, ‘That’s OK. I love you and I have six kids, too, so let’s get married.’”

Schipani interviewed the Geesamans, asking questions about how they got back together after being high school sweethearts and how they dealt with 12 children in a one-bathroom house. The segment was planned to run on Christmas Day after the Holy Mass.

The interview came a day after the family spent four hours with a photographer and reporter from Women’s World magazine for a photo spread in its Valentine’s Day issue.

Drema noted that Christmas shopping was underway and plenty of handmade ornaments were decorating the family’s Christmas tree.

“We’re still adjusting,” she said, “but it gets better all the time.”