’ . . . a defense mechanism . . . allows you to take in the information without falling apart.’ : Bradbury Center’s Volunteers Keep On

The phones had rung only three times the day before, but on Tuesday the ringing at the Laura Bradbury Organization for Stranger-Abducted Children in Huntington Beach never stopped.

News that part of a child’s skull had been found near the Joshua Tree National Monument campsite where Laura Bradbury vanished on Oct. 18, 1984, sparked renewed interest in the county. But the core of volunteers who have have been working for more than a year at the storefront center said that even if the bones are Laura’s, their work will continue.

As usual, the ambiance at the office at Garfield Avenue and Magnolia Street was more like a day-care center. Half a dozen preschool children played with toys on the carpet, and most referred to the white-haired woman overseeinging the center as “Grandma Virginia.”

Virginia Winters, Laura’s grandmother, said that over the past year she has been able to “build up a defense mechanism that allows you to take in the information without falling apart.”

Volunteers at the center Wednesday admitted apprehension that the bone fragments might turn out to be Laura’s but said they intended to continue their efforts to locate all missing children.

“I didn’t get much sleep last night,” said Susan Dawson, 39, of Huntington Harbour after she learned of the discovery in the desert. “I’m very worried.”

Dawson, the mother of two, says she tries to come to the center once a week, and calls at least once a day to talk to Patty Bradbury, Laura’s mother. Dawson is active in affairs of the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, and she brought the Bradburys together with the Rev. Robert Schuller, the pastor there.

Dawson became part of the volunteer effort after seeing a flyer with Laura’s photo because, she said, “Huntington Beach is in my backyard. I saw her picture, and I said, ‘I have to help.’ ”

Mostly what she does at the center is to “try to make people laugh,” Dawson said. “Actually, a lot of what we do is morale-boosting,” said Lynda McGraw, 38, of Huntington Beach, with Laura’s mother the object of their efforts.

She first went to the center “to get a bumper sticker,” McGraw said, “and I’ve been back almost every day since then.”

Initially, McGraw said, she was drawn to the center because she was in Patty Bradbury’s class at Newport Harbor High School, although they didn’t know each other. Averaging 35-40 hours a week at the center, McGraw, who also works part time, was stuffing envelopes Wednesday, occasionally fielding calls from the media. The envelopes were awaiting the arrival of a new, “age-enhanced” drawing of Laura which would appear on a new set of flyers.

“We’ve all become such friends,” she said. “It’s a very close-knit group.”

Support Would Continue

Lately, McGraw said, the number of regular volunteers has diminished.

“I don’t think that any of them have lost hope or stopped caring,” she said. “It just gets hard to come in every day.”

If the Bradburys decide to keep the center open regardless of whether the bones are found to be Laura’s, “we’d probably all come in to support them,” McGraw said.

Lori Flask, 31, of Huntington Beach was working on the organization’s ledger Wednesday, making use of her bookkeeping skills. When Laura Bradbury vanished, Flask said, she was pregnant with her youngest child and “decided to do what I could.”

Flask, treasurer of the organization, brings her children every day and works three to four hours. She does not intend to stop, even with this week’s bad news.

“Absolutely not,” Flask said. “Not even now.”

Financially, things have not been going well lately for the organization. Sales of T-shirts and identification bracelets with Laura’s name on them have dropped in the last several months.

“Truthfully,” Flask said, “right now we’re low, mainly because we’re paying a private investigator, even though he is working for practically nothing.”

A fund-raiser had been planned for next week, she said, and wondered aloud, “How do we cope with that now?”

‘Daily, Weekly Ritual’

Jeanine Berner, 26, of Huntington Beach, who works part time at night and volunteers three or four days a week at the center, said her older child is the same age as Laura, and the younger one is the same age as Laura’s sister, Emily.

After she answered an ad for volunteers, work at the center “turned into a daily, weekly ritual.” For a time she was in charge of selling the identification bracelets, one of which she was wearing.

If the remains found in the desert turn out to be those of Laura, Berner said, “maybe we’d broaden our horizons. I don’t think any of us will call it quits. We feel like we’ve put our hearts and souls in this.”