A Doll's House

[captainsblog]

Sure enough, "Six Three Degrees of Separation" works the same in Binghamton as it does here.

My sister, who's lived there for over 40 years, has been a doll collector for most of them. When she was working at a nursing home some years back, she learned that the residents really enjoyed having the old-timey dolls of their long-ago childhoods brought in for them to see, hold, and most importantly remember.  It wasn't long before she began a labor of love which she still carries out as she's able- in downloading (in the literal sense) much of her doll collection for nursing home and other older-adult afficionados to touch and enjoy.

I'll let Donna connect that to the recent unpleasantness in her home town, as carried in the email she sent me this morning:

Now it has gotten personal.   Yesterday evening I went on to pressconnects to see if any more info was available about the many victims of Friday and there was a big write-up on the "beloved English teacher, Bobbie King".   
 
Mrs. King, as you can read on the web site and in today's paper was a much beloved mom of 10, a bigger doll collector than me and mny other descriptions too numerous to mention.   Five of her 10 children went to Cornell, at least 2 are surgeons as their late dad was and I could go on and on but won't.
 
For me, Bobbie King was my mentor and inspiration to begin doing doll shows.   Prior to my starting this little adventure, I would help Bobbie set up and re-load her enourmous station wagon with priceless antique dolls she would cart in with some combination of Hefty bags and laundry baskets.    Our doll club members would often gasp in horror as she would pass a literally "priceless" doll around for all to see .   Bobbie used to concentrate on the schools, libraries to bring her doll collections and slowly turned the nursing home circuit over to me.    Her doll/books displays are legendary in the school system as she used these props to get the kids interested in reading.
 
Were it not for Bobbie King, I might not have tried my first doll show - at the Golden Days Adult Day Care where our mom went for several years.   They liked it so much that they passed my name around to the other facilities in the area - some of whom still call me to do shows.  I have already decided that the one I am doing on 4/30 will somehow have Bobbie's memory brought in along with my own humbler dollies.

This was a Woman of Virtue who clearly wasn't working at an immigrant services center because she needed the egg money. She was helping others  needier than herself, and paid the ultimate price for it. She's no more or less of a statistic than the other 13 killed in this act of madness, but it certainly adds a whole extra dimension of sadness for us.

Comments

[headbanger118.livejournal.com]

This entry really brought home to me that every victim of this tragedy has a story and a life that touched others. Their loss leaves a hole in someone's life.