SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Mary Ann Darling Fischer, who gave birth to the U.S.'s first known surviving quintuplets in 1963 in an event that brought intense media interest in her family life, has died. She was 79.
Schriver's Memorial Mortuary and Crematory said Tuesday that Fischer died Sunday at Avera St. Luke's Hospital in Aberdeen.
Fischer gave birth to four girls and a boy on Sept. 14, 1963. She and her husband only learned days before the birth that she was carrying quintuplets. The couple already had five young children and would go on to have one more after the quintuplets were born.
The quintuplets' birth thrust the family's life into the media spotlight. The couple later shielded the children from publicity so that they could lead normal childhoods.
