The Garden City Telegram
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Woman's home becomes a dollhouse
Published 10/6/2008 in News
By MONICA SPRINGER
When her daughters grew up and moved away, Lillian Davis thought their dolls that were stuffed in boxes deserved to be sitting out in the open.
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Brad Nading/Telegram - Lillian Davis, shown Friday with a few from her collection, began collecting dolls in the 1980s.
Davis has an extensive doll collection, including some that are only inches tall and others that stand a couple of feet tall.
Davis said she enjoys the hobby of finding dolls to fix up and collect.
"I just like dolls," Davis said. "If I find one I like, then I'll get it."
Davis has dolls sitting on top of her piano in her living room and on shelves in her home. She has more dolls in a hutch in her dining room, though she's never counted to see how many she has.
When she comes across a new doll, she often will fix it up.
Davis dabs warm, soapy water on a rag and washes their faces. Sometimes they have magic marker stains on their clothes or skin. They're hard to get out, Davis said, but she tries her best. Other times, kids will cut their hair to a point she has to put wigs on them.
And if their clothes are tattered, she will replace them.
Davis said she particularly likes the old dolls that remind her of her childhood days. She grew up near Larned with six sisters and a brother, and there were always dolls in the house.
"When we were kids, our parents always got us little dolls," Davis said. "It was always so nice."
She has her son's original GI Joe dolls, a selection of Barbie dolls, and a Penny Bright that belonged to her daughter. She has a doll from Germany, dressed in a dark dress with a feather on the hat, that she found at a garage sale. One of her favorites is a porcelain doll with her lips parted, smiling, with teeth showing.
"This one has a pretty face," Davis said, referring to a doll in her living room that was a couple of feet tall. The doll's hair had been torn out, and Davis found a black wig to put on her. Every once in a while she has to rub a mixture of rubbing alcohol and warm water on the doll's face to keep it clean.
"Dolls shouldn't be hid all the time," Davis said.
Her hobby has changed over the years. When she first started collecting dolls, she used to stick tags on them. The information on the tag included the doll's name, where she bought it and how much she bought it for.
Davis also used to sew clothes for the dolls but said she doesn't anymore.
Aside from her dolls, Davis, 81, and her husband, Lawrence, 78, enjoy going to church and garage sales, gardening, eating out and going shopping. They have been married for 58 years and have four children, six grandchildren and two great grandchildren.
She still cooks every day for her husband after he gets home from being a school crossing guard, she said. Her husband likes to fish, and she goes with him occasionally. They also like to go to antique stores.
While they are out at antique stores or garage sales, Davis said, she is always on the look out for a doll to buy and fix up.
"I enjoy it. It's nice if I can find a cute doll," she said.
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