Nationally Acclaimed Children’s Author Continuing to Make Magic at Crescent Point at Niantic
Retirement at Crescent Point at Niantic, a Benchmark assisted living and Mind & Memory Care community in Niantic, Conn., is simply another chapter in Waterford writer Pat Coombs’ life.
Long before Harry Potter or even Amelia Bedelia, Coombs brought to life characters like Dorrie the Little Witch, teaching generations of children how to deal with challenges by staying calm and being brave.
Over the course of her over 30-year professional writing career, 98-year-old Coombs wrote and illustrated nearly 30 books, including 20 in the popular Dorrie series, which was sold internationally and eventually led to merchandise like dolls and buttons.
Dorrie is known for her signature crooked hat, often mismatched or missing shoes and socks and her beloved black cat, Gink, with whom she shares many adventures and misadventures. The series chronicles the duo as they face evil witches, wizards, and magic gone awry, often over practical matters like cleaning her room or changing the weather for a picnic.
In the early 1960s, the antics of Coombs’ two young daughters, Annie and Trish, inspired her to write her first Dorrie book, and she continued long after they moved away to college.
“I never got tired of Dorrie or her socks or her cat. Through Dorrie it seemed like my girls were always there,” she said.
In the Dorrie books, Coombs showcased a distinct illustration style. They stood out because of their black and white illustrations, often offset by just one or two colors — very different from the brightly colored, commercial illustrations found in most children’s books today.
Coombs’ work was originally discovered by chance at her Waterford home of nearly 70 years. Her husband, Jim Fox, then a technical writer, had to interview someone for a job, but a snowstorm forced the interview to occur at their home instead of the office. Snowed in, the guest soon found himself spending the night with one of the family’s many cats (up to 14 at one time!) sleeping on his head. He eventually stumbled upon Coombs’ work and was inspired to share the idea with a publisher.
“I was astounded and thrilled – and still am! – when they said they wanted to publish my work. It was exciting and unexpected,” she said.
But, for Coombs, the Dorrie series was many years in the making, having been influenced from the time she was a baby. Her father’s job with Shell Oil took them all over the world, including Chile, London and Hawaii where she had her first birthday. Challenged with constantly relocating, her and her siblings’ imaginations were vivid, and with a large age gap between them, reading became a passion. Her brother once built a mouse hotel in their St. Louis garage which became a favorite reading spot because it was away from the prying eyes of her mother who was frequently shocked by what she was reading.
It was at the age of 10 when her brother started attending Purdue that she realized she could write. “We both liked bad jokes, and his classmates were always entertained by my letters.”
More than 30 years later, Coombs continues to have fans all over the world, including a teacher who recently wrote her a letter about what her books mean to her and her students. She even gifted Coombs a handmade book of her own.
To commemorate Coombs’ life’s work and share Dorrie’s wisdom, she and her daughter, Annie, will conduct a reading for local children on October 30 at 4PM at Crescent Point.
Looking back, Coombs is incredibly grateful for what she’s been able to accomplish, “It’s really unbelievable, a lot of my life has been like that.”
