Mom's Elephants by Sarah Devine

Carol Devine’s collections of elephants spurred out of control after she purchased a small Dumbo figurine at a card shop in Johnstown, Pennsylvania when she was about seventeen- years-old.
“I just thought he was so cute so I bought him,” Carol said.

Now, at the age of 50, Carol still displays all of the elephants collected over the years.
“I probably bought the first bunch [of elephants] myself, then after people found out I liked them it just snowballed from there.”

The elephants used to be displayed on a wooden shelf that had about 6 tiers and stood in the corner. It wasn’t very big, and as the elephant collection grew, the elephants spread to the top of the television set and various other shelves around the house. Her husband, Jim, purchased her a large wooden and glass display case that was much larger and could house all of the elephants comfortably.

A few years ago Carol made her family stop buying elephant gifts for her.
“I was getting them for every birthday and holiday gift and was running out of room to put them,” said Carol.

It was hard, after a life of always buying her elephants, to see a cute one and not pick it up for her. I still cannot look at an elephant without thinking of my mom.

Growing up, I often wanted to play with the elephants, but was never allowed to take them off of the shelves. Many of the elephants are glass and I surely would have broken them.

One of my mom’s favorite stories to tell about me as a child was the time I tried to get back at her through her beloved elephants. In my defense, I do not remember this incident. After my mom yelled at me for something, I disappeared for a while, and then reappeared in the kitchen, walked up to her, and simply said “THERE!” Mom had no idea what was going on or what I meant until a few hours later when she walked into the dining room where the elephants were. She burst out laughing when she noticed that all of her elephants, as high as I could reach anyway, were turned backwards.

Carol’s elephants are a staple in her life, and people still from time to time just cannot resist and buy her an elephant to add to her collection.