Tufano quads Laura, Christine, Barbara and Joanne — born on Long Island in 1979 — close as ever after 45 years
The quadruplets in November: From left, Joanne, Barbara, Christine and Laura. They were born to Timi and Joseph Tufano, of Ridge, on May 3, 1979. Credit: Tufano family
The first sonogram showed twins, maybe triplets.
“That really got me,” recalled the father, Joseph Tufano, now 74. “I was like, 'Oh my God. It's unbelievable.' "
The Tufanos were gobsmacked at the next sonogram.
“The doctor said there was definitely four, maybe more. He said, 'I can't rule out five, maybe six.' "
It wound up being four — fraternal quadruplets — born to Timi and Joseph Tufano, of Ridge, on May 3, 1979. The girls, initially labeled Baby A, Baby B, Baby C and Baby D in the hospital isolettes because the couple didn't know the sexes until birth, are healthy and celebrated their 45th birthdays as a rarity on Long Island and the world: quadruplets.
The quads, born by Caesarean section, were believed to be the first known to have been born and raised on Long Island, according to prior Newsday reporting.
Of the 3.6 million births in 1980, there were 68,339 twins, and just 1,337 triplets or more. Quadruplet stats aren’t readily available, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2021, there were just 133 quadruplet births in the United States.
These quads — eldest Laura, of Sound Beach, Christine and Barbara, both of Ridge, and youngest Joanne, now of upstate Valatie, southeast of Albany — feel close as ever.
“Whenever I would talk about my sisters, I would say, ‘we, we, we’ and people were like, why do you keep saying 'we,' and I’m like, oh! you know, because I don’t feel like we’re separate, even though we’re far apart. … We’re used to celebrating everything together. So I would say, ‘our birthday. We turn 45,’ ” she said, explaining “I’m talking about my quads!”
In a recent all-sister conference call, the sisters giggled, teased each other and urged Barbara to take care of that stubborn cough.
Every sister but Joanne was together at Laura's in Sound Beach for their actual birthday, but on May 18 are all heading to a spa hotel in Lake Placid to celebrate together, as they did for their 40th.
“We’re all very close, and we’ve been close, since the very beginning,” Joanne said. The sisters are in a text-message chain called Mommy’s Quad Squad, in which they message one another every day. The chain name is a tribute to their mother, Timi, who died in 2016.
The sisters have an older brother, Dave, of Ridge, who is 49. Their mom had been on fertility medicine when she got pregnant again.
The girls came out in two minutes; the family went from three to seven.
“I went from an only child to being one of five overnight,” Dave said.
“It was always chaotic! Bedtime was great; they went to sleep a half-hour before I did and all's you heard was little voices laughing and cribs crashing together.”
The quads were born underweight. It took four separate teams of doctors and nurses, one for each girl, to do the delivery, at what is now called Nassau University Medical Center, in East Meadow.
The girls would grow up to lead healthy lives.
“Raising four daughters, it's just like a single child, times four. When they were little, they were a handful, because they were all over the place. They were great kids,” the dad recalled.
“When they were 16, they were typical teenage girls. 'Who was going out with who?' Their boyfriends, this and that.”
Growing up so close not just in age but in sisterhood, their parents asked their school, the Longwood district, to place the quads in different kindergartens. The district obliged.
“It was important for us to develop our own personalities and have our own friends because we had our own friendship built-in being sisters,” Christine said. “It was important for my mom to make sure that we get to know different people.”
And so each brought their own friends to the quads, who brought their respective friends to hang out as a big group, Joanne added.
Their parents divorced when the girls were young, and the kids split their childhood between their mom’s house, in Ridge, and their dad’s, in Valley Stream.
“That was always an adventure, taking the car ride,” Christine said. “We’d always just squish together in the car and sing Billy Joel and tell jokes.”
Being so close didn’t mean always liking the same things.
On Tuesday, when Barbara recalled how dance and baton was “something we loved doing,” Laura jokingly interjected: “I didn’t love baton, I’m sorry.”
The girls didn’t love the same things exactly, but always played together in the backyard “for hours and hours on end," Joanne said. Riding bikes and climbing trees, Barbara added.
“Barbara, we didn’t climb trees!” Christine said.
“Yes, we did!” Laura said.
As older girls, they worked at the Splish Splash Water Park in Calverton together — except Laura. (“Sorry, Laura!” Christine joked.) And they worked with Laura’s future husband, Dan — before Laura knew him.
“He knew all of my sisters before he knew me,” Laura said.
As girls, the sisters bickered sometimes, as kids do.
“We had normal fights growing up that any siblings do. This one’s in the bathroom too long. This one took someone’s shirt,” Christine said. “Laura would always steal the clothes.”
And their brother, Dave, also bore the burden of the sisters taking a while.
“As we got older, I could never get into the bathroom in the mornings,” he said.
Now a grandfather, Dave is especially adept at relating to his two granddaughters.
“I can do braids in their hair from a skill I learned at an early age with four sisters,” he said.
The sisters now have their own families. Laura owns a store in Mount Sinai called Jewelry Hospital, a sale and repair shop. Christine is a high school Spanish teacher in the Brentwood district. Barbara works as a supervisor at a residential treatment center. Joanne is a special-education teacher upstate.
The sisters still seem to garner the same reaction, and questions — what was it like growing up? Do you look alike? Are you close? — as when they were young.
“Going on 45 years, and people are always amazed to hear, ‘Oh, my God, you guys are quadruplets!' ” Laura said.
Joanne, the only sister who doesn't live on Long Island, said: “It’s very difficult being far away, but whenever we get together, no matter when it is, we don’t skip a beat. It’s like I saw them yesterday.”
The first sonogram showed twins, maybe triplets.
“That really got me,” recalled the father, Joseph Tufano, now 74. “I was like, 'Oh my God. It's unbelievable.' "
The Tufanos were gobsmacked at the next sonogram.
“The doctor said there was definitely four, maybe more. He said, 'I can't rule out five, maybe six.' "
WHAT TO KNOW
- The Tufano quads — eldest Laura, Christine, Barbara and youngest Joanne — were born on Long Island on May 3, 1979.
- They just turned 45 and all but Joanne still live on Long Island; she resides in upstate Valatie, southeast of Albany.
- The girls were delivered in two minutes, bringing the Tufano family from three to seven.
It wound up being four — fraternal quadruplets — born to Timi and Joseph Tufano, of Ridge, on May 3, 1979. The girls, initially labeled Baby A, Baby B, Baby C and Baby D in the hospital isolettes because the couple didn't know the sexes until birth, are healthy and celebrated their 45th birthdays as a rarity on Long Island and the world: quadruplets.
The quads, born by Caesarean section, were believed to be the first known to have been born and raised on Long Island, according to prior Newsday reporting.
Of the 3.6 million births in 1980, there were 68,339 twins, and just 1,337 triplets or more. Quadruplet stats aren’t readily available, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2021, there were just 133 quadruplet births in the United States.
These quads — eldest Laura, of Sound Beach, Christine and Barbara, both of Ridge, and youngest Joanne, now of upstate Valatie, southeast of Albany — feel close as ever.
“Whenever I would talk about my sisters, I would say, ‘we, we, we’ and people were like, why do you keep saying 'we,' and I’m like, oh! you know, because I don’t feel like we’re separate, even though we’re far apart. … We’re used to celebrating everything together. So I would say, ‘our birthday. We turn 45,’ ” she said, explaining “I’m talking about my quads!”
In a recent all-sister conference call, the sisters giggled, teased each other and urged Barbara to take care of that stubborn cough.
Every sister but Joanne was together at Laura's in Sound Beach for their actual birthday, but on May 18 are all heading to a spa hotel in Lake Placid to celebrate together, as they did for their 40th.
“We’re all very close, and we’ve been close, since the very beginning,” Joanne said. The sisters are in a text-message chain called Mommy’s Quad Squad, in which they message one another every day. The chain name is a tribute to their mother, Timi, who died in 2016.
Family grows from 3 to 7
The sisters have an older brother, Dave, of Ridge, who is 49. Their mom had been on fertility medicine when she got pregnant again.
The Tufano siblings, from left, Christine, Joanne, Laura and Barbara shortly after birth on May 3, 1979, with their older brother, David. Credit: Tufano family
The girls came out in two minutes; the family went from three to seven.
“I went from an only child to being one of five overnight,” Dave said.
“It was always chaotic! Bedtime was great; they went to sleep a half-hour before I did and all's you heard was little voices laughing and cribs crashing together.”
The quads were born underweight. It took four separate teams of doctors and nurses, one for each girl, to do the delivery, at what is now called Nassau University Medical Center, in East Meadow.
The girls would grow up to lead healthy lives.
“Raising four daughters, it's just like a single child, times four. When they were little, they were a handful, because they were all over the place. They were great kids,” the dad recalled.
“When they were 16, they were typical teenage girls. 'Who was going out with who?' Their boyfriends, this and that.”
Growing up so close not just in age but in sisterhood, their parents asked their school, the Longwood district, to place the quads in different kindergartens. The district obliged.
“It was important for us to develop our own personalities and have our own friends because we had our own friendship built-in being sisters,” Christine said. “It was important for my mom to make sure that we get to know different people.”
And so each brought their own friends to the quads, who brought their respective friends to hang out as a big group, Joanne added.
Their parents divorced when the girls were young, and the kids split their childhood between their mom’s house, in Ridge, and their dad’s, in Valley Stream.
“That was always an adventure, taking the car ride,” Christine said. “We’d always just squish together in the car and sing Billy Joel and tell jokes.”
Being so close didn’t mean always liking the same things.
On Tuesday, when Barbara recalled how dance and baton was “something we loved doing,” Laura jokingly interjected: “I didn’t love baton, I’m sorry.”
The girls didn’t love the same things exactly, but always played together in the backyard “for hours and hours on end," Joanne said. Riding bikes and climbing trees, Barbara added.
“Barbara, we didn’t climb trees!” Christine said.
“Yes, we did!” Laura said.
Work together, except Laura
As older girls, they worked at the Splish Splash Water Park in Calverton together — except Laura. (“Sorry, Laura!” Christine joked.) And they worked with Laura’s future husband, Dan — before Laura knew him.
“He knew all of my sisters before he knew me,” Laura said.
As girls, the sisters bickered sometimes, as kids do.
“We had normal fights growing up that any siblings do. This one’s in the bathroom too long. This one took someone’s shirt,” Christine said. “Laura would always steal the clothes.”
And their brother, Dave, also bore the burden of the sisters taking a while.
“As we got older, I could never get into the bathroom in the mornings,” he said.
Now a grandfather, Dave is especially adept at relating to his two granddaughters.
“I can do braids in their hair from a skill I learned at an early age with four sisters,” he said.
The sisters now have their own families. Laura owns a store in Mount Sinai called Jewelry Hospital, a sale and repair shop. Christine is a high school Spanish teacher in the Brentwood district. Barbara works as a supervisor at a residential treatment center. Joanne is a special-education teacher upstate.
The sisters still seem to garner the same reaction, and questions — what was it like growing up? Do you look alike? Are you close? — as when they were young.
“Going on 45 years, and people are always amazed to hear, ‘Oh, my God, you guys are quadruplets!' ” Laura said.
Joanne, the only sister who doesn't live on Long Island, said: “It’s very difficult being far away, but whenever we get together, no matter when it is, we don’t skip a beat. It’s like I saw them yesterday.”
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
