THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 16, 1995 TAG: 9505160292
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY ANNE SAITA, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SHILOH LENGTH: Long : 133 lines
The single-story house that Patricia Wendell calls home is typical of country-road dwellings from the 1940s: People move into them because of the surrounding landscape - not necessarily because of the structure itself.
But once you enter the 30-foot-long, cypress-paneled living room, you'll soon discover that the aluminum-sided rancher secluded in a grove of shade trees is actually more of a museum than a modern-day house.
The Camden County dwelling is home to about 125 Japanese and Chinese dolls and thousands of miniature replicas. Many are encased in glass. All are elaborately displayed.
Each piece has its own fascinating tale that Wendell is glad to share. And many of the keepsakes, like their current owner, have been given a second chance at life. Wendell is a recovering cancer patient who restores antique dolls for a living.
``These dolls are very rare,'' says Wendell, a freckle-faced redhead who points to meticulous reproductions of 16th-century Japanese samuri, shoguns and daimyos.
Wendell seems to share a special kinship with these figures from the feudal era. She is battling advanced breast cancer. Her health is as fragile as some of her antiquedolls.
Although she surrounds herself with Asian figurines, the closest Wendell has ever been to Asia was California, where she lived until her husband, Stephen Wendell, a Coast Guard aviator, was transferred to Elizabeth City three years ago.
So why did the Coast Guard select her to speak for Asian-Pacific Culture week?
``I had been to her home as a guest for dinner, and while there I took notice of her dolls. You can't miss them,'' said Lt. John Carter, the base chaplain.
There also was another reason, said U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class John Drake. ``She was one that volunteered to do it,'' said Drake, who presides over the Coast Guard's cultural awareness committee.
African-Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans all have been highlighted recently in the base-wide program promoting ethnic understanding. Drake hasn't seen Wendell's doll collection yet. But he, like Carter, said he was impressed with the woman's knowledge of Japanese history and culture - especially since he once lived in the Land of the Rising Sun.
Wendell, an art school graduate, is a stickler for detail and accuracy and is well-researched on just about everything Asian. Her other passion, evident from the oversized volumes, reference texts and National Geographic magazines that share wall space with the doll collections, sometimes assists her with the doll research.
``I'm a real book nut,'' she said. ``I read books like some people eat peanuts.''
Among Wendell's figurines are an emperor and empress - her first Asian dolls and the ones that spawned her interest in collecting.
These two members of Japanese royalty are surrounded by 44 court dolls and hundreds of miniature pieces that take up just about every inch of space on shelves in an enclosed and lighted case.
Nearby, in a makeshift display that once served as a window, are 28 play dolls, including a replica of Japan's current emperor when he was a child. Also displayed are 24 geishas and girls in festival dress, and 28 replicas of figures from an annual Japanese celebration in May known as ``Boys' Day.''
Wendell seems most pleased with the warriors assembled in a lighted case and another on an intricate stand on the fireplace hearth.
``These are the dolls I'm taking to the talk because they are so rare, very few people get to see them,'' she said. ``The Japanese no longer wanted anything to do with military. So they gave up their dolls and gave them to second-hand stores. Even the young people don't want to have anything to do with it.
``But that has been good for me,'' Wendell said. ``It's made it a rare collection.''
Wendell finds some of her pieces through a ``Japanese connection.'' Many others are flea-market finds. For example, there's a girl doll wearing an orange and purple floral robe that was once given to a U.S. state in appreciation for America's help during a Tokyo earthquake in the 1930s. The doll has been featured on television in Los Angeles, Wendell said. ``She ended up in private hands, and I eventually found her in a flea market.''
While the lion's share of Wendell's work is devoted to dolls, she has spent a great deal of time in recent years putting together an 1890s Queen Anne Victorian dollhouse.
Antique materials, such as old silk lace used for window treatments, fill each wallpapered room - many of which have an Asian tone. A tiny beaded doorway is made of antique glass beads, something else Wendell never seems have enough of.
``I'm what you call a discriminating pack rat,'' she said. ``I collect. But I collect things of value.''
A 3-foot-tall jewelry case contains necklaces and earrings Wendell has created from otherwise incongruous beads, stones and jewelry pieces found at second-hand, open-air markets.
``Things just come to me,'' she said. ``It's almost like when I go to a flea market, I have a sixth sense. It's almost a psychic thing for me, maybe because I've been doing it so long.''
A few years ago, Wendell found herself undergoing a mastectomy just days after she married Stephen, who once was her boarder when they both lived in Sacramento.
Physicians discovered the breast cancer had advanced to her lymph nodes. But Wendell, buoyed by her recent nuptials, came out of the surgery convinced she could lick the disease.
``Breast cancer never goes into total remission,'' she said before explaining the lifestyle changes she's undergone, particularly to her diet, and her spiritual faith. ``I do everything I can to help my body fight back. And I have a very positive attitude.''
Wendell said she still has three years to go before she's ``out of the woods'' regarding her cancer.
But these days she has plenty to look forward to. There are those antique beads still waiting to be strung; that dollhouse yet to be finished; others' antique dolls waiting to be restored.
And, of course, there are those dolls still waiting to be discovered by Wendell and showcased inside the Shiloh ranch house. ILLUSTRATION: She gives old dolls new life
[Color Photo]
DREW C. WILSON
Staff
A Japanese doll of Empress Jingu crafted in the 1700s is one of more
than 100 Asian miniatures that Patricia Wendell has picked up at
flea markets and other places over the years. They fill the living
room of her Shiloh home.
DOLL COLLECTION
Shiloh resident Patricia Wendell will be the featured speaker at the
U.S. Coast Guard's cultural heritage presentation this week. She is
scheduled to give a free talk on her Asian doll collection at 12:30
p.m. Wednesday at Hangar 7 on the Weeksville base.
Wendell will discuss the history and folklore of several warrior
figurines that will be displayed.
The talk, part of Asian-Pacific Awareness Week, is free and open to
the public. For more information, call (919) 335-6000.
by CNB