Patricia Brown Darling is the granddaughter of Werner von Buelow. She was born to Robert C. Brown and Anita von Buelow in Chicago, in 1936. When still in grade school she worked in her grandfather's store, dusting shelves, polishing silver and wrapping packages. As she got older, her responsibilities increased and eventually she waited on customers. Her pay was an occasional piece of sterling silver flatware to start her set of silver.