Her co-workers in the manufacturing department of
		IBM's Cottle Road plant dubbed Sammie Burch the
		``social director.'' They might just as well have
		called her ``den mother.''
		
		If there was a birthday, an anniversary or a new
		baby, it was Burch who bought the card, cake and
		present. Even after retiring from IBM in the 1990s
		she kept in touch with her IBM brethren. She
		organized the reunions, booking the park, the
		caterer and the entertainment. She was the one who
		kept folks informed with a stream of e-mails on
		changes in IBM benefits and management -- or
		nuggets of gossip.
		
		Today, Burch remains a seminal source of
		information. But the news is no longer always
		upbeat.
		
		At 63, the friendly, charismatic, silver-haired
		grandmother of nine has become a one-woman news
		service and counselor, offering daily updates and
		comfort to hundreds of current and former IBM
		employees as they anxiously watch two former
		colleagues take on the company in a lawsuit that
		could have far-reaching implications for all their
		lives.
		
		Alida Hernandez and James Moore were diagnosed
		with cancer they contend was caused by chemicals
		they worked with in clean rooms at the Cottle Road
		campus. Hernandez, 73, had breast cancer, and
		Moore, 62, is being treated for non-Hodgkin's
		lymphoma. They maintain IBM knew substances were
		making them sick but didn't tell them. Their suit
		seeks unspecified monetary damages.
		
		In recess
		
		The trial, now in its second month, is being heard
		by a Santa Clara jury. The court recessed for the
		holidays Thursday and is scheduled to be back in
		session Jan. 5.
		
		So far, four former employees, a former nurse and
		a former manager have testified IBM did not warn
		them about health risks. Instead, they said, the
		company had an unwritten policy of assuring
		workers the clean rooms were safe. Five experts
		have testified about everything from air flow to
		the link between chemicals used to make hard disks
		and cancer.
		
		``I think they are presenting a very good case, a
		very strong case,'' Burch said. ``I think IBM's
		worried, and they ought to be.''
		
		But even Burch said it's too early to tell whether
		the jury has been convinced. Cross-examInations
		have at times been brutal and the judge has
		restricted what evidence the jury can hear to the
		narrow confines of workers' compensation law.
		
		``It's gone almost 50-50 either way,'' said John
		Roberts, a former IBMer who connected with Burch
		after a friend died of cancer and who has been
		attending the trial.
		
		IBM insists it did everything possible to maintain
		a safe work environment, equipping company clean
		rooms with state-of-the-art ventilation systems
		and offering training programs on how to handle
		chemicals safely.
		
		``IBM has historically spared no expense to go way
		beyond what's strictly required by law,'' said IBM
		spokesman Bill O'Leary. ``This is not something we
		scrimp on.''
		
		IBM's attorneys have argued that the pair's
		personal health histories more likely caused their
		cancer.
		
		Waiting anxiously
		
		For the hundreds of employees and their families
		across the country watching the case, many of whom
		stay in touch with Burch, these are tense times.
		Though there is no definitive proof that IBM was
		responsible, many who have cancer -- or have lost
		relatives to the disease -- blame the company. And
		despite IBM's assurances, even those in good
		health are scared.
		
		``My God, sounds like almost everyone we knew is
		sick or dead!!!'' wrote one former IBMer in an
		e-mail to Burch.
		
		Others turn to her for answers. ``Sammie, is this
		a class-action suit?'' wrote another. ``Is it too
		late for my dad to sign up? He worked in a clean
		room for five years at IBM. And last year he was
		diagnosed with lymphnoid cancer.''
		
		It's only logical, Burch's friends say, that
		people turn to her for comfort.
		
		``Her heart is as big as this town,'' said John
		Schurr, her close friend and colleague.
		
		Burch dismisses such platitudes. This is not about
		her, she says; this is about people who are
		suffering.
		
		``We were like family,'' she said of her IBM
		co-workers. ``You work next to someone seven days
		a week, you learn everything about them -- what's
		going on with their marriage, with their family,
		with their children.''
		
		It took Burch years to get a job at Big Blue. At
		the time, many considered IBM theplace to work. It
		paid well, offered great benefits, and was known
		for its close-knit culture. In 1981, after
		numerous rejections, Burch reapplied -- stapling
		every one of the rejection letters she had
		accumulated over the years to her application. It
		worked.
		
		In her home in South San Jose, Burch has dozens of
		albums filled with pictures from her 15 years at
		IBM. There are the Halloween dress-up shots from
		the days when Burch's hair was still brown, the
		Hawaiian luaus where managers donned aloha shirts
		and leis to celebrate a job well done, the summer
		picnics and the weddings.
		
		But in a yellow file folder Burch keeps the other
		memories: obituaries, prayer cards and funeral
		programs, more than a dozen in all. The deceased
		were young and old -- mothers, fathers, sisters
		and brothers. Many died from some type of cancer.
		
		Christi Starks, 35, died of breast cancer and left
		three young children. Terry Ramirez-Fichthorn, 34,
		was married for just two years when diagnosed with
		a brain tumor.
		
		Off the top of her head, Burch can list others: at
		least three people are dealing with lymphoma, five
		have multiple sclerosis. Four survived breast
		cancer and two lost children because of birth
		defects.
		
		It wasn't until a few years ago that it occurred
		to Burch there could be a connection. A friend she
		hadn't seen for a year dropped in to buy a ticket
		for the IBM reunion. She was shocked to see him
		walking with a cane. When he told her he had
		multiple sclerosis, something clicked. She knew of
		four other people diagnosed with MS who worked in
		the same department. And none had a family history
		of the disease.
		
		``I told him, `You better sit down,' '' she said.
		``There's something wrong here.''
		
		IBM maintains that with a large workforce -- there
		were roughly 12,000 IBMers in Santa Clara County
		in the 1980s when much of the alleged chemical
		poisoning occurred -- it's logical that a certain
		number might be diagnosed with cancer, given the
		rates of the disease in the general population.
		And they note that there's never been an instance
		where chemicals in their workplace have been
		directly linked to cancer in employees.
		
		Courtroom observer
		
		Burch isn't convinced, but she's staying out of
		the legal fray. On most days of the trial, she
		sits in the back of the courtroom, taking notes or
		mulling over the day's testimony with former
		colleagues. At night she e-mails articles or her
		impressions to more than 100 folks on her list.
		
		She has a keen instinct for what comforts folks --
		a tissue, a shoulder squeeze, a hug. After a
		difficult day of testimony for former IBM nurse
		Audrey Misako Crouch, Burch passed along a
		supportive e-mail to Crouch's husband that she had
		received from another former employee.
		
		And always she wears a black armband with the name
		of a friend or colleague who has died from cancer.
		
		Burch is healthy, but ``I'm worried every day,''
		she said, thinking about her own future. ``Every
		time I have an ache or a pain.''
		
		But her more immediate concern is for others. When
		she was laid off last December at another valley
		firm because of cutbacks, she could hardly afford
		the financial strain. Now she realizes, there may
		have been a reason she was left with time on her
		hands.
		
		``I told my husband, `Maybe this is something God
		wanted me to do.' ''
		

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