Some people spend their whole life making their fortune, working at their job, making investments.

Mary Holland, 86, of Worth Township has done just that, while raising close to 100 foster children. She feels they have yielded her dividends that few other jobs or investments could. She considers them her fortune.

"I counted up to 90. I've had more than that, but that's enough," she said with a smile. "They call me. They send cards. A girl in Georgia just sent me a beautiful calendar. I had a grandson who was here yesterday. I'm grandma to their kids."

Though Mrs. Holland has no biological children, the warmth she uses when pointing to a wall of dozens upon dozens of pictures of her foster children shows that DNA has nothing to do with parental love.

"I look at all these pictures and I look at all these things. Sometimes I wonder how I did it. I don't know," she said with a laugh.

She took in her first child in 1939.

"I saw this lady I knew. She was old and was working and she had a grandchild to raise. She didn't know what to do with her," Mrs. Holland said. "I told her, I'm just 19 years old, but if you don't know what to do with her, I'll take her. She was shocked that I offered."

Mrs. Holland explained her offer: "I felt sorry for the lady. To tell you the truth, I was young and working every day. I've always been a person who liked to help people."

Two months later, the grandmother died and the mother of the child gave her daughter to the 19-year-old.

"I raised her until she was 20 and got married," she said, pointing to a picture on the wall she calls her conversation piece. "She just passed away in June."

In 1945, Mary married Walter Holland. He shared her love of children and joined her in fostering them.

"He had a friend ... They had two children, a girl and a boy. We took them in 1950," she said.

"They came through welfare, what would now be known as social services. Someone was talking about children who don't have a home. I thought that was sad. I took four more in the 1950s," Mrs. Holland said. "From then on in, they just started bringing them to me."

She had as many as 15 foster children at one time in 1953.

Mrs. Holland credits her late husband, who worked in the Grove City post office for his involvement and support.

"We would sit down and have a meeting every Friday. Each kid would tell what happened that week that they didn't like," she said. "Each kid expressed his feelings and my husband and I would explain to them what was what. We struggled along and got on good with them. That's how we managed a lot of things."

She continued to foster children, long after her husband died in 1981, but says she is on her last one now.

Her last one is Demetrious "Deke" Ison, an 18-year-old senior at Lakeview High School. He is known for his record-breaking numbers in football and his strong work ethic and manners, which he credits to Mrs. Holland.

And Mrs. Holland, who claims she doesn't have any magic formula for raising kids, did share some of her wisdom:

"Well years ago, at that time, you could spank them. I paddled them. I tell you one thing. It didn't hurt them one bit. But I wasn't hateful or mean with it. I would paddle them one minute and hug them the next."

She also talked about different kids are now from when she first took in foster children.

"It's a different age. They don't mind much and they don't listen much. They have their own ideas. I sort of deal with it," Mrs. Holland said. "I stop and give them a real serious lecture, telling them what I think. But kids don't pay much attention. They want to do everything they want to do.

"So I say, 'Go ahead, do it your way.' Then I have them come back and say, 'I wished I'd a done it like you said.' "

The octogenarian smiled as she recalled different incidents with her children.

Pointing to the pictures, she said, "This boy right here is on Broadway. But I enjoyed them whether they did anything or not. I don't know. I just loved kids. I raised a fourth of them their whole life."

And though she has declined taking in any more children because of arthritis and advancing age, frequent calls and visits from former foster children and "grandchildren" keep her content.

"I have enjoyed every one and they all come back," she said.