Terry Ryan (1) (1946–2007)

This book is an amazing and true story. It is a very quick read and I highly recommend to all. The book (written by one of 10 children) is steeped in Midwest 1950's atmosphere and tells the story of how a woman, Evelyn Ryan, used her intellect, initiative, and common sense to turn lemons into lemonade and provide for her children while burdened with a worse than useless (my opinion), violent and abusive husband, Kelly Ryan. Many women did not work in the period and if they did it was menial show more and for puny wages. The husband who worked (for the period that he was able) would get his wages at the end of the month, paid all the family’s bills (sometimes), and stashed the rest of the cash in his wallet - doling out the bare minimum (sometimes) for absolute essentials only - and drank away the rest. He was a mean drunk and although I am perhaps insensitive to the father's/husband's own personal internal demons he was, quite frankly, a totally unlikable character who terrorized his family, smashed dishes and furniture, flung pots and shouted abuse at his wife, children, and neighbors – among his numerous other less than charming characteristics . I suppose his one redeeming character trait is that when he was sober, he was somewhat able to demonstrate love for his children. The heroine of this novel (and she truly fits the bill) is Evelyn, wife and mother, who holds the family together and succeeds in filling the deep financial void by entering nearly every contest appearing on labels and box tops (a popular 1950’s advertising gimmick) - writing poems, jingles, stories, and entering every contest she could that provided prizes of cash, appliances, food, bicycles encyclopedias, accordion lessons...you name it and she entered a contest to win it. She was very, very good at winning contests and she is to be credited for keeping food on the table and a roof over their heads. Since the wolf was always at the door, this was a fulltime occupation for her which she handled with aplomb and great skill; her mind was ever-churning on how to turn a product into potential income, sustenance, or welfare for her family.

PWDO was made into an excellent movie in 2005 with the brilliant Julianne Moore and Woody Harrelson, as Evelyn and Kelly Ryan. show less

I listened to the audio version of this book. Being a product of the 1950s and 1960s myself, I recognized many of the contests that the author talks about. I never entered any of them, but I often wondered how legitimate they were. Were there actual entrants? Were the prizes really awarded? These and many other questions are answered in The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio. Evelyn Ryan entered and won scores of such contests. In fact, she pretty much supported her large family on the winnings show more since her husband was basically a worthless drunk who brought little home beyond a hangover from a night of drinking. The story is told by her daughter Terry who resurrected several volumes of notebooks listing all of the contrests, the prizes, her actual entries (always a poem that the contest begins and entrants finish) which promote a product. Usually, box tops or other “proof of purchase” items are required, which turns the contest into a marketing scheme of sorts. The number of prizes Terry’s mother won is nothing short of astounding and ranged from worthless baubles to automobiles and trips to exotic places. Terry almost always sold the valuable prizes since she needed money for the mortgage payment and utilities more than she needed a sports car. The story is entertaining and in places touching. Most readers will find Evelyn an amazing mother dedicated to the survival of her family while remaining strangely loyal to her worthless husband. show less

(Transplanted from my old booklog... I didn't give a star rating there, but I'm pretty sure it was in the 4-5 range.)

Oh, this was good.

The subtitle concisely summarizes the entire book. It's the true story of how the author's mother, during the contest craze of the 1950s and 1960s, entered every contest in sight, winning often enough to keep the family afloat.

I liked this for several reasons. For one thing, I confess I give bonus points to any book chronicling a family whose size is in the show more ballpark of mine. (Ten is close enough to be in the ballpark, I figure.) This is one reason why I've long been a fan of Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on their Toes. (Of course, small families can be nice, too: that's one reason why I've liked watching The Brady Bunch over the years.)

Anyway. Aside from that, the story is engaging, and it's pretty well written. I particularly liked the fact that the author didn't fall into the trap of foreshadowing contest entries that were going to win. As the narrative progresses, some contests disappear into the mists after the entries are sent out, never to be heard of again, while others pay off. You have to read on to discover which is which, though.

Finally, the book includes many of the actual contest entries, and while some of them are almost incomprehensible (but right up the alley of the contest judges), others are a delight to read. In one case, I'd actually read it before, in a collection of Burma-Shave signs, just without attribution to the author. (It's a real beaut, having relevance both to the actual product, and to the fact that it's being read from a car speeding along a highway: "Hairpin turn, / Hotrod ditched. / Lost control, / His whiskers / Itched. / Burma-Shave.") show less

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio is a warm and lovingly written memoir that chronicles the life of Evelyn Ryan, who, as her daughter and the author of the book Terry Ryan puts it, raised 10 kids on 25 words or less.

I love biographies. I especially love to learn from others’ mistakes and triumphs and to be inspired to be better than I am. I am partial to stories about ordinary people, that is, people like me. While Catherine the Great, Hatshepsut, and Amelia Earhart were all immensely show more interesting and inspiring, their lives were nothing like mine. I know that while what they did was all well and good for them, there is not the remotest chance that I am going to rule Russia, have myself declared King and a god, or fly myself from here to Bakersfield, let alone around the world. And so I enjoy reading about people who have done things there is a remote chance I might also do.

This book is about a woman who leads an ordinary life in an extraordinary way. Evelyn Ryan is a woman of talent, wisdom, humor and an amazing ability to keep her eyes on the prize, both literally and figuratively, no matter what is happening around her. That she lived in a town called Defiance is only fitting, for this is a woman who defied many things, including the odds.

Evelyn was born in 1913 and her mother died shortly after. Her father remarried when she was 3 years old. In the early 20’s her stepmother published, and wrote most of, a local newspaper. Evelyn was taught to set type and by the time she was 17 she had earned a reputation for both speed and accuracy as a typesetter. By the time she was 20 she was also writing a twenty-inch column for the newspaper. She wrote everything from social gossip to satire about the government. Her column was popular, but she didn’t feel that she was really any good at writing, and because of a lack of confidence she gave up the column after a year. (She would, however, continue throughout her life to make some money from stories she submitted to various newspapers.) She wanted to be a nurse and started school, but she had a horrible case of eczema which left her hands blistered and swollen and she had to quit school and return home. Shortly after that she met and married Kelly Ryan. Of this decision she tells one of her children, “I want you to know that I don’t regret any part of my life, including marrying Dad.” She and Kelly had 10 children in quick succession.

Think back to the role of women in the 40’s and 50’s and Evelyn Ryan would fit that bill. She was Catholic, which heavily influenced her decisions, including having 10 children, staying home to raise them, and deciding to stay married for life, even though her husband was an abusive alcoholic who drank up most of his paycheck. The financial strain that this caused was immense and this is what led Mrs. Ryan to turn her writing skills towards entering contests. The primary theme of this book, however, is how she manages to keep her family together and give her children a happy childhood in spite of the adversity that they faced. It might sound depressing, just one more book about the ravages of growing up with an alcoholic parent. But this book, written with humor, intelligence and compassion by Mrs. Ryan’s daughter Terry is infused with joy, laughter and is a tremendous tribute to the power of resilience and the unwavering love of a mother for her children.

Mrs. Ryan was a prize winner and that’s how she supported her family for over 20 years. From the late thirties into the sixties many manufacturers and stores held contests. But these were not like the contests of today, where you fill out an entry blank, have a 1 in 10 trillion chance of winning, and you start getting junk mail from the 2,463 companies who bought your name and address from the company holding the contest. The contests that Mrs. Ryan entered required good writing skills, cleverness and a good sense of humor, all of which she possessed in great quantity. She started out entering these contests in the late 1940’s by writing Burma-Shave signs. One of her entries which was selected reads, “Passed on a hill, Lived through Korea, Met a guy, With the same idea. Burma-Shave.”

Soon she had made a business out of entering various contests which required her to write various pieces such as limericks, poems, pithy sayings and product descriptions, usually 25 words or less. Mrs. Ryan had a notebook which sat at the end of her ironing board and she would write her entries as she worked. Many of these entries are in the book and are quite clever and amusing.

It was practically a full-time job keeping up with all of the contest entries, the rules for each, etc. The rules were very rigidly applied and the stakes were high because winning might mean the difference between having food on the table or not. The contests were decided by panels of judges, so Mrs. Ryan also took the time to find out whom the judges were and learn what each of them preferred. The companies even sent out private detectives to see if the submissions were really written by the person who sent them. Since she sometimes made submissions in the names of her children, this caused some fairly comical scenes, which are detailed with good humor in the book. Mrs. Ryan was not above telling a few “white lies” if it meant money for her children. All of this took time, energy and attention to detail, all of which Mrs. Ryan was quite good at. And let us not forget that she was also responsible for raising her 10 children. She is the definition of Supermom.

Mrs. Ryan won contest after contest, with prizes ranging from a few dollars to trips, cars and even a guest appearance on the Merv Griffen show. Some of the prizes were kept and used by the family, such as washing machines and televisions, but most were sold and the money used to buy the essentials of what the family needed. One car that she won was sold to get the money for a down payment on a house. At a later time, after Mr. Ryan had a breakdown and was out of work so money was especially tight, the bank had threatened foreclose on the mortgage because it hadn’t been paid in several months. Mrs. Ryan had one week to get the money or lose the house. She had entered a major contest and if she won and if the money arrived on time she could save the house. I’ll let you read the book to find out what happened.

Partly what I find remarkable about this family is how the focus of the household was not on the father, who could be a mean drunk, but rather on the love and joy that Mrs. Ryan brought, and won, for her children. Terry Ryan certainly talks about how her father affected her family, but there is no bitterness there and there is a good deal of compassion for his failings. The sense she gives of her childhood is that while there was stress, financial difficulties, etc., the children felt loved and happy and they had a lot of fun together. This was the ultimate prize for Mrs. Ryan, the thing she worked her whole life to achieve: the success and happiness of her children. And by all accounts she was a winner there too. Her children went on to be educated, have successful careers and families of their own, and remain close to each other and their mother. Terry Ryan does not tell a story of the tragedy of having a dysfunctional parent, she tells the story of a remarkable woman and a childhood filled with love, if not with possessions.

I love this book and I highly recommend it. This is a book that will make you laugh, and perhaps cry, and it will leave you with a sense of hope about how powerful each of us ordinary people is to leave the world a better place. show less