MARTINEZ, Calif. (KGO) — People reach out to 7 On Your Side every week to get their problems — big or small — solved.
In one recent case, an East Bay woman needed our help after her doll appeared to go missing after dropping it off at a local “doll hospital” for repairs — and it turns out there are hundreds of others in the same situation.
Benedikte Pember is a doll connoisseur.
Her passion is exemplified with a three-story doll house she handcrafted with her husband in meticulous detail. It’s a collection so expansive it fills her bookshelf, with dolls representing nearly every country across the world.
One of her oldest 1960 dolls, Caroline, suffered a broken neck among other issues and needed repair. So Pember took her to Nature’s Way Doll Centre, a local doll hospital in Martinez, years ago.
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“This was in October 2021… and she (the owner) told me it would be ready at Christmas. But that never happened,” Pember said. “You lose hope after a while, and I just wanted my doll back.”
Over the course of four years, Pember says she struggled to get an update on her doll from the repair shop owner, Jan Depuy. Pember even visited the store, which remained closed — with little Caroline visible from the front window, laying on a repair table.
Pember finally decided to reach out to 7 On Your Side. Our team contacted the doll hospital and learned the owner has been diagnosed with dementia and can no longer operate the store.
The doll hospital owner’s family flew in from Washington state to help clear out the shop and were stunned.
“What was your impression when you first got to the store?” asked 7 On Your Side’s Stephanie Sierra.
“Shock! Overwhelming shock!” said Becky Economou, Depuy’s niece. “There’s so much stuff in it… dolls, dolls, dolls… from floor to ceiling!”
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“Because there’s dolls, there’s dolls in cases… dolls in shelves low to the ground… there’s dolls on the ground… there’s hundreds of dolls… probably a thousand or more,” she said.
The owner’s relatives say there are five additional rooms filled with dolls in various stages of being repaired. And they’re just trying to get them back.
“Back to the people they belong to,” said Rosie O’Connor, Depuy’s sister.
The family plans to sell the remaining dolls and supplies left inside, and asks anyone who left their doll for repairs to contact the store to have it returned.
“Her answering machine is full of messages, so on our next trip down there we will listen to all the messages and hopefully get some contact info… so that we can contact a lot of people,” O’Connor said.
Doll owners just like Benedikte Pember, who’s relieved to have Caroline back at home, in her own little doll house.
Take a look at more stories and videos by 7 On Your Side.
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