RSMA Annual Meetings

For Copies of the two Flyers for our 2016 Celebration of the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association's 50th Anniversary, please see the bottom of the page.


Annual Meeting at the Cedar Falls Public Library -- Saturday, June 13, 2015

RSMA members received a copy of the manuscript in a set of scans last Fall. The University of Iowa Special Collections generously made us a photocopy of this 200-page work, written in the 1930s.

This year's Annual Meeting took place on Saturday, June 13, 2015. We met at 10 am at the Cedar Falls Public Library.

You will notice Ruth's handwriting on one page--adding to what her father wrote related to the "John Wood" story--so Ruth likely read, edited, or even typed this copy.

We discussed Rev. William Suckow's autobiography, which was self-published: he was Ruth's father, a writer himself. We had a small group, but a lively discussion.

2014 Annual Meeting

We went back to the Cedar Falls Library for our Annual Meeting on Saturday, June 7th. We met at 10 am on the second floor of the Cedar Falls Public Library for a brief business meeting.

In 2013 we met in Hawarden, the city of Ruth Suckow's Birthplace, with a short Business meeting at 10 am at the Public Library, followed by a discussion of The John Wood Case at 11:00. We toured the birthplace.

We met at the Cedar Falls Library, Summer 2012

We discussed Ruth's memoir, "Myself" after lunch.

We discussed New Hope. Retired Professor George Day led our discussion.

Our 2011 Meeting

Our business meeting at the Cedar Falls Library, Summer 2011

Our discussion of the book The Folks at the Hearst Center, led by Barbara Lounsberry, summer 2011.

Our members met at 10 am at the Cedar Falls Library Conference room for our Business meeting; we then moved over to the Hearst Center for lunch and the afternoon discussion. It was a great meeting, with several visitors. We talked about Ruth Suckow’s most famous novel, The Folks at the Hearst Center for the Arts.

Barbara Lounsberry, University of Northern Iowa emeritus professor of English, led the discussion of this 1934 Iowa novel set in Belmond (which means “beautiful world” in French). The novel follows Fred and Annie Ferguson, “the folks” of the title, and their children, from their start on an Iowa farm and as they branch out in the early twentieth century.

“The Folks has been called Suckow’s masterpiece,” Lounsberry explains. “Suckow captures with searing realism the joys and sorrows each generation meets, the challenges of leaving and returning, and the abiding Iowa earth.”

Copies of the novel are available in the “Iowa Section” of the Cedar Falls Public Library.

For further information, contact Lounsberry (Lounsberry@gmail.com).

Pictures of some of our past Annual meetings

Barb and Joanne look at the Suckow Tshirts and bookmarks for sale

Barb leads the Business meeting, also at the Cedar Falls Library at our 2006 meeting

Meeting at Earlville, 2005

The Officers in 2005

Barb stands in front of a house in Earlville where Ruth's stepmother lived

Sara, our Secretary, with Mike, our Vice President and former Web Master, and Barb, past President, in front of the Earlville library at the 2005 meeting.

Our meeting at the Earlville library, 2005





Liane Nichols, "Just Suppose" after our 2019 meeting


Liane Nichols reprised her performance at 1:00, after our annual meeting which was held on Saturday, June 15 at the Hearst Center for the Arts in Cedar Falls.

We lunched on the lovely outdoor patio at the Hearst after having our Annual Meeting.







Last Updated July 16, 2022

Cherie Dargan, Webmaster