Pearl S Buck Intl Outings & Doris Carr

Last winter, I walked into the office of my storage unit because I lost my gate code. "Are you Catherine? I've seen your face in the newspaper! Congratulations on being appointed to the Board of Directors of Pearl S Buck International!" And, so, I'm famous in Doylestown. After joining the Board and also becoming the Vice-Chair of the Women Lawyers' Division of the bar association, my face was in the paper for about three months straight, and now everyone knows my name.

Tonight, a small group gathered at the home of one of the Board members. When I pulled up to the mansion, I expected our hosts to be graying and have a house full of photos of their married children and grandkids. Alas, they looked to be 38 at most - like the children of the people who should own the house. They had two boys, 9 and 10 years old, and about 5,000 square feet of oak, crown molding, and granite. The place was admittedly grand and didn't have that emptiness that some of these new huge houses have. It was warm and well-decorated.

In the basement, we learned about some new developments from the Pearl S. Buck VP of Relationship Development and everyone was given a minute to tell a story of their personal tie to the adoption agency or a passion that brings them to the group. We chatted, got to know one another, and - per usual - I ended up being one of the last persons to leave.

Along with the Executive Director, Janet, her husband, Lou, and the hosts, David and Tracey, I stayed behind with my friend Doris to watch a special sneak preview trailer of a movie the hosts had directed this past summer. We streamed into the large private theatre with plush couches. Any airs I put on about "McMansions" dissipated when the doors shut, I snuggled into the super soft couch, the lights went out, an awesome surround sound came on.

David is some kind of financial consultant. They had lived all over the world - Tokyo, HK, Europe, and almost moved to India before settling on Bucks County. They partnered with a journalist, Melissa Cornick, who is based in Bucks and New York, to locally film a documentary on the Underground Railroad running through Bucks. The movie, the North Star, was filmed at Tyler State Park and some of the local state parks grounds.

Doris' and my paths are criss-crossy ones. Her son is an attorney at my firm. She recalls vividly our family's arrival to Doylestown in 1975. Since my coming to E&G, she has taken me to the church that sponsored us, help me post a bulletin soliciting photos of my family (no response), and personally introduced me to several Doylestown families that sponsored my own.

When I asked her to join me for a Pearl Buck event, she congratulated me on the appointment to the Board and mentioned that she was once the full-time nurse for Carol Buck, Pearl's only biological child, who was born with PKU and became severely disabled as a result. Doris was her primary caregiver at the Vineland School in NJ, where Pearl would visit Carol regularly. She asked me to send my regards to Tony, and declined that first invitation.

However, the day before David and Tracey's event, Tony emailed me to ask if I would drive Doris since she doesn't like to drive at night. I happily chauffeured her to their mansion. As we sat there at the end of the night watching the trailer for the movie they produced and directed, Doris mentioned that she knew Melissa Cornick and that they were exploring a possible project related to the Doylestown Historical Society together.

"I would like you to meet her, Catherine." I agreed to, of course, and looked forward to it even more when I googled Melissa and discovered the extent of her accomplishments and experience.