Drake Library assistant earns top prize in Ruth Suckow essay contest

GRINNELL — A Drake Community Library assistant has won the first place prize in a student essay contest from the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association in Cedar Falls.

Veronica Ruse, who has worked in Local History Archives at Drake since March 2022, garnered the top prize, a $1,000 scholarship, for an essay she wrote entitled “August and Emma Kaetterhenry: A Farm Marriage Examined” based on the characters in Suckow’s first novel, “Country People,” published in 1924.

Suckow, who was born in 1892 in Hawarden to William John Suckow and Anna Mary Kluckhohn, was a 1910 graduate of Grinnell High School. She attended Grinnell College for three years where she studied English while her father worked as a field agent raising funds for the school.

Suckow graduated from the Curry School of Expression in Boston before graduating from the University of Denver Department of English in 1917.

Ruse was presented the scholarship at an event at the RSMA in Cedar Falls Saturday, Sept. 14 during the Centennial Celebration of the publication of Ruth Suckow’s first novel, “Country People.”

Also present was Jennie Flinspach, head of the Grinnell High School English Department, who was presented a $500 Teachers Award as part of the top prize package.

“I really wanted the award to go to GHS,” noted Ruse. “They are facing budget cuts, and I wanted to help support the English department. It was kind of nice to give it to the high school where Ruth attended.”

Ruse learned of the scholarship opportunity when a patron visited the Drake Community Library and showed her a copy of the Iowa History Journal.

“There was an article in the magazine about Ruth Suckow and it was titled, “Iowa’s Lost Writer” by Barbara Lounsberry,” said Ruse. “She is president of the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association based in Cedar Falls.”

“Country People” is a work of fiction that follows August and Emma Kaetterhenry, a German-American clan that works to build both a farm and family, navigating the tensions between individual desires and community expectations,” noted information on the book.

In her essay, Ruse analyzed the relationship of the couple, August and Emma Kaetterhenry.

“We feel it is almost fate that Veronica’s essay won first prize in the blind statewide judging, for Ruth Suckow graduated from Grinnell High School in 1910 and went on to study at Grinnell College,” said Lounsberry.

Ruse was born in Bucharest, Romania. She came to the United States in 2000 after her parents immigrated here. She grew up in Chicago and later moved to Nashville.

Ruse graduated from Grinnell College in 2019 with a degree in philosophy and political science.

Ruse is currently a graduate student in the library science program at the University of Iowa where she is earning a certificate in special collections and archives.

“I’m really grateful for the RSMA essay contest because it gave me the opportunity to read a novel by a local Grinnell author who deserves more recognition for her moving depiction of rural life,” said Ruse.

“This award will help me continue furthering my education at the University of Iowa.”

Ruth Suckow books

In addition to “Country People,” Suckow published 11 more novels. They include the following:

“The Odyssey of a Nice Girl” — 1925

“Iowa Interiors” — 1926

“The Bonney Family” — 1928

“Cora” — 1929

“The Kramer Girls” — 1930

“Children and Older People” — 1931

“The Folks” — 1934

“Carryover” — 1936

“New Hope” — 1936

“Some Others and Myself (short stories and “A Memoir”) — 1952

“The John Wood Case” — 1959

The Ruth Suckow Memorial Association was founded in April 1966, six years after Suckow passed away. Her husband, Ferner Nuhn, who had remarried, helped found the association to preserve his late wife’s legacy.

The Ruth Suckow Memorial Association, now in its 58th year, is working to preserve her legacy and get many of her books republished. The association re-released the book “Country People” in January and conducted the essay contest.

The library in Earlville, where Suckow met Ferner and is buried, is named in her honor. The library features a model of the Suckow home and a display in her honor.

Ruth Suckow traveling exhibit

The Drake Community Library will be hosting the Ruth Suckow Traveling Exhibit from Jan. 12 through Feb. 9. Events planned during the exhibit include book club discussion of “Country People,” a reader’s theater performance of Suckow’s short story “A Great Mollie” directed by Jennie Flinspach and a talk about Suckow’s Grinnell novella “A Part of the Institution” by Dr. Michael Hustedde, emeritus professor of English at St. Ambrose University.

For more information on Ruth Suckow and the many resources about her life, visit: ruthsuckow.org.