By KATHY HANKS

The Hutchinson News

Before Pam Babcock made international headlines as the woman who spent two years in the bathroom, she was known as "simple," "naive" and "sweet."

Babcock was a spindly Utica High School volleyball player back in 1991, with a thick mop of curly brown hair and a pretty smile.

In her hometown of fewer than 200 people in northwest Ness County, relatives and acquaintances received updates Thursday on Babcock's condition.

"She's in a private room out of the burn unit, and they are hoping with physical therapy they can straighten her legs," said Linda Walt of Collyer, Pam's aunt. "Right now, the court has appointed a temporary guardian through SRS because she refused to eat and is medically incompetent."

So far, Pam has refused to see any of her family members.

There are many unanswered questions for Walt and Ross Babcock, Pam's father. He raised Pam with the help of his mother after his wife died when Pam was 9 years old.

But, Pam's isolation from the family goes beyond two years.

Her father said she began distancing herself after she graduated from UHS in 1992 and moved to Ness City. That's when she began dating Kory McFarren, he said.

"My sister, mom and me tried to get a hold of her over the years, but Kory wouldn't let us talk to Pammy. He'd politely answer the door and tell us she didn't want to see us. I left my number.

"I love my daughter," he said. "But, when a person is of age, there isn't much you can do."

Walt said family members called to ask Pam to lunch about three years ago, and she excitedly asked if they could go to Pizza Plus, the only pizza joint in Ness City.

Then 30 minutes later, when they arrived at the door, McFarren answered and told them Pam was taking a bath, had changed her mind and didn't want to go. Pam shouted from the bathroom for them to go away, that she never wanted to see them, Walt said.

Former UHS English teacher Sylvia Morley remembers Pam as a likable student.

"She was not a troublemaker at all, but sweet to work with," Morley said. She performed in the school play. When working one on one with Pam, she did very well, Morley said.

Former Utica school secretary Paula Atwell recalled how Pam was hired to do janitorial work at the school during the summer.

"She was thorough," Atwell said. "The lockers never had been so clean."

Like many who knew Pam, Letha Babcock, a cousin, wished she had done more to help the vulnerable woman, who was in special education classes during high school.

Now, Pam's life seems like one of those crazy horror movies the grandkids watch.

"I thought she had emotional problems as a child. She didn't have a real happy childhood," Letha Babcock said. "She spent a weekend with us one summer with my granddaughter, and they had fun dressing up in my old centennial dresses."

She hadn't seen Pam since she left Utica after high school, but knew she had gotten an apartment, was getting assistance and was trying to find work.

The last time Morley ran into Pam, she went away with a positive feeling about her former student.

"I saw her at the Derrick Inn (in Ness City) after she had graduated and thought how much she had matured," Morley said. "I remember thinking she had changed in a good way and thinking she would do well."