Lynn man linchpin in rich history of unique large family

LYNN – The walls of John Corcoran’s home on Forest Hill Avenue are covered with photographs and documents, a unique wallpaper collage of his family and his time in the Navy. He has lived in this home for over 50 years, but these days it’s much quieter without 15 – sometimes more – children running around.Corcoran, 85, and his wife Rose, who passed away in 2004, always wanted a big family, but they didn’t expect to raise 13 biological and two adopted children. Besides their brood of 15, the Corcorans had 122 foster children living with them at one point or another.”They sent one foster child to us for a couple days, and then they wanted to put the kid in foster care, and we said, ‘no thanks, we’ll just keep them here,'” Corcoran said. “We would keep them until they got adopted.”The 15 children have made for a large extended family, too. Corcoran has 35 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren, with two more on the way. For Christmastime family reunions, the Corcorans have to rent out a hall to fit the whole clan and their spouses. Corcoran’s son, Brian, 57, of Andover, said it’s hard to remember every immediate family member, much less the countless cousins, uncles and great-nephews.”I could look at the kids and know who their parents are, but I won’t know their names,” Brian said.Corcoran, the son of Irish immigrants, grew up in a house with just six rooms on Commercial Street in Lynn with 12 siblings. His wife was an only child and always knew she wanted a large family. Corcoran was a bricklayer after he returned from serving in the Navy in World War II along with two of his brothers.Brian said there were three bunk beds in his bedroom growing up to fit six boys, and it was impossible to count how many loaves of bread or gallons of milk the family went through every week. But to him, their life wasn’t so unusual.”It was very normal,” Brian said. “To us, it was what we knew.”Corcoran said the family didn’t take many vacations, but when they did, it was easy to squeeze into the station wagon before there were seat belt laws. The kids all walked to school at St. Mary’s, just down the hill from their house and their parents took care of necessities like shopping and errands.Brian said although the kids would sometimes argue or misbehave, but for the most part, having so many kids around the house made for a good time. The family always ate meals together at a long wooden table custom-made by their neighbor, and Corcoran joked that none of the children ever got arrested.”There was always someone to hang out with, that’s for sure,” Brian said. “My parents dedicated their whole life to kids, both their own and others.”