Septuplets Wrap a School and Neighbors Around Tiny Fingers

The first things that Edward and Alicia Hix noticed when they began moving into their new home Wednesday morning were six boldly colored signs on their next door neighbor’s lawn.

Four signs said, “It’s a boy.” Two declared, “It’s a girl.”

“Boy, it looks like somebody had a lot of babies around here,” Alicia Hix, 37, told her husband. Then they were astonished when a CBS news crew with cameras met them at the door.

“I’ve never lived next to celebrities before,” said Edward Hix, 37, who was “very surprised” to learn that his neighbor was Patti Frustaci, who delivered septuplets, six of whom survived, at a hospital in Orange on Tuesday morning.

The Frustacis’ other next-door neighbor, Debbie Marian, 27, had planted the signs, which made the Frustaci house impossible to miss for the television news crews and newspaper reporters who for three days have besieged the neat, well-groomed neighborhood.

Patti and Samuel Frustaci and their 14-month-old son moved into the southern Riverside neighborhood of relatively new one- and two-story homes nine months ago.

Journalists Converge

“This was a quiet neighborhood,” observed Marian, as yet another caravan of journalists converged on the home where Samuel Frustaci, Patti’s 32-year-old husband, was grabbing two hours of sleep and a shower.

“He’s got to be tired,” Marian said, nodding toward the Frustaci house. “I don’t know how he’s keeping up.”

A few minutes later, Frustaci, his hair still wet, emerged from the house and was confronted by a gaggle of reporters on his driveway.

“I’m doing fine, just gotta get a little sleep is all,” said Frustaci, before answering questions about his wife’s health.

Rallying for the cameras, he stood among the signs, smiled, and said, “Good neighbor Sam, that’s me.”

There was no less excitement at Rubidoux High School, where 30-year-old Patti Frustaci taught English until taking a temporary leave in April.

The “essay question of the day” that Frustaci’s substitute, Barbara Maguire, wrote on the blackboard of her English class Tuesday was especially timely and relevant.

“When Mrs. Frustaci brings all those babies home, what will be her three major problems?”

Most students answered “getting enough sleep, a baby sitter and money,” Maguire said.

But a few included some “cute ideas” for making life a little easier for Frustaci and her four new boys and two new girls, she said.

“One said, ‘Weld six spoons together just far enough apart to reach each baby’s mouth,’ ” Maguire said with a chuckle. “Another said, ‘Tie six baby strollers together.’ ”

But at least one of Frustaci’s students wasn’t too worried about her ability to cope with six new mouths to feed.

“She took care of us without having a nervous breakdown,” blurted Jarrod Favors, 16, of Riverside, to the delight of his classmates Wednesday. “If she can handle us, she’ll have no problem handling six babies!”

“The kids love her,” said Maguire. Some have started collecting donations to help defray hospital costs, she said. Others have offered to baby-sit the infants that the school principal, Douglas Huckaby, dubbed “our little falcons,” after the school mascot.

Ronald Needham, assistant principal at the school, described Frustaci as “a dedicated teacher who works very hard.”

“In a very short time, she earned the respect and admiration of her students.”

Huckaby agreed, adding that Frustaci had three thoughts in her mind after learning she was pregnant with seven babies.

“The safety of the kids,” Huckaby said, “excitement, and wanting to continue to be a good teacher until she left--and she did that.”

On Tuesday, Huckaby kept the students apprised of Frustaci’s progress during the critical delivery period via a public announcement system into each classroom. He began each update with the words: “This is KRHS News Control.”

“Once we heard she had given birth . . . , there was jubilation,” he said. “It’s been a positive experience in a whole bunch of ways.”

Plans are under way, he said, to raise money to buy savings bonds for the children and for a trust fund set up by the Frustaci family and their attorney, Andrew Wallet.

“When Patti feels comfortable and the babies are well, we’ll go to St. Joseph Hospital and make a presentation,” he said. “We’ll also have gifts--T-shirts, footballs and pompons--for our little falcons.”