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Berdine
Creedy grew up on a small wheat farm in South Africa,
where she earned her certificate in teaching and taught elementary
education for ten years.
After her marriage to Mike
Creedy, Berdine quit teaching to raise her young children.
Berdine, who finds it hard to sit still for long, took up
pottery as a hobby. Her hobby turned into a career when she
began selling her pottery to stores. She tried her hand at
reproduction dolls, but found the work too confining, so decided
to sculpt her own. Her very first doll received two awards,
prompting her husband to suggest that they consider marketing
her dolls in the U.S. They found this difficult to do from
South Africa and began to dream of moving to the U.S.
In a story, which reads like
a fairy tale, the Creedy's entered a "green card lottery",
sponsored by the United States, which their son, Michael-John,
saw advertised on television. Against overwhelming odds, they
won, which allowed them to move their whole family to the
U.S. In Berdine's words, "It was meant to be". They
moved in 1996, settling in Florida, where she continued to
create her one-of-a-kind and limited-edition dolls. She also
continued to win awards. |