Takeaways from the 51st Annual Meeting of the RSMA

Post date: Jul 7, 2017 10:43:24 PM

Takeaways from the 51^st Annual Meeting of the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association (RSMA)

We thought our 50^th Anniversary last summer would be the highlight of recent years, with a big cake and book giveaways; however, we managed to outdo ourselves this summer, with a full day of activities, thanks in part to the Cedar Falls Authors Festival, and renewed interest in our literary legacy. RSMA President Barb Lounsberry and friend Rosemary Beach were chatting over coffee last year, after our big Suckow meeting, and out of that conversation the Cedar Falls Authors Festival was born, recognizing that Suckow is one of five best selling writers with a Cedar Falls connection. (The others are Bess Streeter Aldrich, James Hearst, Nancy Price and Robert James Waller).

Rosemary (pictured below) greeted people and helped sell posters and t-shirts as well as make sure latecomers found a place to sit.

The morning business meeting was well attended, with several new faces, including our speakers for the evening program at the Hearst Center: Rebecca Christian (author of the play “Just Suppose,” 1992) and Lenore Howard (actress who portrayed Ruth Suckow in “Just Suppose”). Sara, our Secretary, greeted them and is shown below.

We reported on our progress of digitizing Suckow’s stories for the Iowa Digital Heritage website: this is thanks to the hard work of Barb Lounsberry and now Roy Kenagy, a retired librarian from the Des Moines area who has scanned in numerous works. We now have 20 items there: 18 of Ruth Suckow’s short stories, along with the novel The Kramer Girls and her novella A Part of the Institution. (Here is Roy sitting at the end of the table below).

We got to see a picture of Ruth that we had not seen before!

We missed our long time Treasurer, Joanne, and Barbara noted that she has moved into a retirement community and will not be with us this year. Mary Brammer has agreed to take on these duties. This is also the first year that long time member and former President George Day was not able to join us either.

We looked briefly at the website, www.ruthsuckow.org, which continues to get between 1,200-1,500 hits a year, and is now about a decade old. In addition, with the new Cedar Falls Authors Festival endeavor, Ruth Suckow is getting fresh attention on that website, www.cfauthorsfestival.org. The website is not even six months old and has already gotten over 1200 hits. (Disclosure: Yes, I am the webmaster for both sites).

Barbara pointed out that Ruth is the only Iowa writer that she knows of who has a Park and a Library named after her (in Earlville), an active Association, and now a sculpture in the Hearst Sculpture Garden, as of today. Suckow and her husband Ferner Nuhn are also buried in Greenwood Cemetery.

I did a little “show and tell” with the recently published book The Midwestern Moment, which just arrived a few days before the Annual Meeting. The book was edited by Professor Jon Lauck and published by Hastings College Press, and focuses on forgotten writers of the Midwest during the 1900s, looking at the impact of regionalism. Jon had attended a recent RSMA meeting and invited me to submit a proposal: big thanks go to Barbara who helped not only with the proposal, but with the draft of the chapter.

My chapter, “The Realistic Regionalism of Iowa’s Ruth Suckow,” examines her life and work. Suckow didn’t like being labeled a “regional” writer because she thought it limited her audience and saw her work as having more universal appeal. However, she is without a doubt a writer who knew how to capture the “folks” of the small towns and farms of Iowa with her description and dialogue. Called both Iowa’s first feminist writer for her strong portrayal of women and a realist, Suckow’s best work seems to be done in her short stories.

We enjoyed a wonderful box lunch, and then welcomed several more people from the community for our 1:00 discussion of Suckow’s novella “A Part of the Institution” with some opening remarks by Barbara and Bill. It was a lively discussion and we were thrilled to see the audience included a teenage girl with her mother.

Then, we went to the Hearst Center for the official dedication of the new sculpture, “Amongst,” created by a UNI Junior, Hannah Seggerman, pictured below. The concept is of something new rising out of the old. The sculpture honors Ruth Suckow and Ferner Nuhn: Ferner was a home town boy and he and Ruth lived here twice during their marriage. Ferner opened the first community art center and his efforts led to the Hearst Center: he and Ruth were good friends with James Hearst. So it is fitting that this sculpture and plaque represent the three friends together again.

Mary Brammer, who is a member of the RSMA as well as the Cedar Falls Public Art Committee, helped to champion the project. Here she is greeting people to the Hearst Sculpture Garden.

Next, RSMA President Barbara Lounsberry greeted the crowd.

Finally, we were introduced to Hannah Seggerman, the UNI student who created the sculpture by Barbara Brown, another member of the Cedar Falls Public Art Committee and it was time for some photos.

It was a warm Saturday afternoon so we retreated to the cooler patio at the Hearst and enjoyed a wonderful reception.

Many of us slipped inside to view the lovely exhibit of Marjorie Nuhn’s paintings; she was Ferner’s sister and a wonderful artist who loved to use water colors and whose paintings of both Cedar Falls and New Mexico were wonderful with vibrant colors.

A group of us enjoyed a light supper with our two special guests, and then returned to the Hearst Center for the evening program, focusing on the 1992 play “Just Suppose,” which focused on the life of Iowa writer Ruth Suckow. Rebecca Christian was commissioned to write the play by the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association. Lenore Howard took on the challenge of portraying Ruth Suckow; she is an actress based in Dubuque.

Lenore and Rebecca shared their memories and insights in an informal, conversational manner while a brief PowerPoint presentation with images of Ruth and Ferner was displayed behind them. As they spoke, we realized that Lenore was dipping into the script and giving us a taste of the play.

Afterward we enjoyed more conversation and the revelation that Sara had been to all seven performances back in 1992, and had the t-shirt to prove it.

All in all, it was an incredible day.

Last Updated July 7, 2017