All 10 children of Doug, Jan Wigton have played basketball for St. Mary.

A blind date turned into marriage, and marriage turned into a whole lot of kids.
Soon, Dr. Douglas J. and Jan Wigton will enter into a new phase of life. The youngest of their 10 children, who all attended St. Mary School, is a senior.

Like every other Wigton to pass through the halls of St. Mary, Tim Wigton plays basketball. Doug and Jan attended their tenth “parents’ night” Friday.TIM WIGTON, the tenth and final Wigton sibling to play basketball at St. Mary, is flanked by his parents, Doug and Jan Wigton, who were wearing pins that feature their children.
“Basketball was the sport because they were tall and thin,” said Jan Wigton. At one point in the family’s history — when all 10 kids were at home, taking the challenge of being a “basketball mom” to a new level — she limited each Wigton to playing one sport.
“Some of them got away with two when they got older and could drive themselves,” she said.
The clothes Doug and Jan Wigton wore to parents’ night told the story of a family that fully embraced and encouraged their children’s athletic careers. For several years, parents of basketball players have received oversized pins containing pictures of their children dressed in St. Mary uniforms.
The Wigtons were weighted down with pins. One pin had the names of their oldest children, who graduated before the tradition began at St. Mary.
The Wigtons met while canoeing the Huron River outside of Detroit on a blind date. He was from Rochester; she from Redford Township. They were married in 1972.
After graduating from Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1973, Doug Wigton accepted an internship at Jacksonville Naval Hospital. He also took post graduate studies in flight surgery.
“Seven years in the Navy left an indelible mark,” wrote Doug in a short history posted on the website for the medical practice he began in Traverse City, Shepherd of Hope Clinic. “It was during this time that it became more and more obvious that God had a hand on my life and that of my family. On Feb. 13 of 1978, I gave this life to Christ. Shortly thereafter I left the Navy as a Lieutenant Commander and went into private practice in Traverse City.”
Soon after, the Wigtons looked for room to grow.
“We wanted to raise the kids on a farm, so we found a farm in Leelanau County,” said Jan Wigton. “We mostly grew kids and weeds.”TIM WIGTON (41) of St. Mary shoots over Frankfort’s Max Bankston (40) in the Eagles’ 51-42 loss Friday night.
But the farm experience paid off, as the Wigton children were exposed to a life in the country that included raising steers and lambs for 4-H. The Wigtons resided on a farm off Kabot Road until a few years ago, when they moved to a home on Ramblewood Drive in eastern Solon Township to cut down on Doug’s commute. He was also driving to religious studies in Gaylord.
The commute to St. Mary may have been lengthened, but the Wigtons believed in the education their children were receiving. “It definitely prepared them for higher education,” said Jan Wigton. “They were ready to go (to college) when they graduated.”
The thought of having 10 children may make some parents shudder. The Wigtons felt blessed.
Jan’s fondest memories are of those days shared with every member of her family.
‘It’s everybody getting together, and enjoying themselves. It was a lot of work, but it was worth the work,” she said.
The thought of passing on to a new phase in life — after helping to get Tim through college — seems to please Jan Wigton, whose grandchildren range in age from one month to 7.
“I’m ready to be a grandma now,” she said.
The Wigton children, with the year they graduated from high school in parenthesis, are:
• The Rev. Matthew Wigton (1992), who is serving in a parish in Rome.
• Laura (Nick) Hahnenberg (1995), who is married and a teacher residing in Williamston.
• Ruth Hiester (1997), who is married and a registered nurse residing in Virginia.
• Daniel Wigton (1998), an engineer working for RJG Associates in Traverse City.
• Peter Wigton (2001), a seminarian for the Diocese of Gaylord.
• Samuel Wigton (2002), who has a degree in sports and business management and is a manager for a Speedway.
• Hannah Allen (2004), who is married, a mother and resides in Vista, Calif.
• Grace Wigton (2005), a senior at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio.
• Michael Wigton (2007), a sophomore at Northwestern Michigan College.
• And Tim Wigton, a senior who on Friday became the tenth and last of the Wigton children to hug his mother on St. Mary’s parents’ might.