Our Tribute to Robin Patrick

In 6th grade, I received a bubblecut.  Robin had a blonde Skipper at
that time.  We played "Barbies" all the time, even though I was 4-1/2
years older than Robin.  I even have a picture in our front yard of
Robin gleefully clutching that Skipper.  Now I collect SL Skippers in
her memory.  I never owned one as a child.

Somehow Robin ended up with the bubblecut and the Skipper disappeared. I  had not even remembered what happened to my bubblecut, and remember
Robin having one when I was in high school.  She played all the time with her friends who lived behind us.  She kept that bubblecut, and I
always thought it was hers from trading with those neighbor girls.

But after Robin died, I received her doll collection.  As I inspected
the bubblecut for the first time, it dawned on me that this was my
bubblecut! I thought about having her professionally restored, but my
fond memories of playing with her as a child and Robin doing the same and both of us forgetting that I gave it to her made me decide to keep
her as is, which is very played with!

Robin especially loved Midge. Vintage Midge. She had one as a small child. Who knows what happened to it. In 1996 she went to a family reunion in Illinois with our mother. One day they went antiquing and Robin bought a mint Midge in box. She paid $150 for it, so it wasn't a bargain, but it was not overpriced either. How she loved that Midge. Now I have that Midge. It gave me great comfort to have her. The box Robin originally got with the doll was for the wrong hair color, so I bought one that was the right hair color and have kept her safe. I even bought the Midge repro because I knew Robin would have wanted one. I definitely like the set too.

Robin also loved the Kelly dolls and her little friends. She bought all the sets with Barbie and little sisters, and I have those. She also bought lots of the little Kelly dolls and I kept one of each but sent the rest to Allie, our little Babstalk friend in Australia who also collected Kelly and her little friends. Allie was a special friend of Robin's, and they traded dolls several times. I know Robin would have loved the new sets - Hansel and Gretel and Raggedy Ann and Andy. So do I.

When Robin found out she was going to die (only one week before she actually did die), she was so worried about everyone but herself. She voiced her concern for Allie's feelings. I assured her we would do our best to help Allie deal with losing her. Allie's mother is wonderful, and I hope that receiving Robin's Kelly dolls helped Allie with her grieving. She was such a little girl then. Robin was also very very concerned about our parents and her two little boys (age 3 and 4-1/2). It was so sad. But, typical of Robin, she was much more concerned about those of us who loved and needed her than she was about herself.

It was wonderful how the Babstalk grouped together and raised money for Robin's family. She had no medical insurance or life insurance and had incurred many expenses during her fight against cancer. The loving contributions from this group really helped her widower and children. I will be forever grateful to this wonderful group of people who have in common collecting dolls and huge, generous hearts. I cannot put into words the importance of this group's help at such an unbearable time. Robin loved this group and so do I.

~Elaine Rumaker~

Robin and I kept in touch through the email. I was fortunate to have her
as a swap partner for the last Christmas swap that Babstalk had done.

~Terri Fazenbaker~