A Defiance housewife’s way with words made her famous and helped feed her family. BY W.H. “CHIP” GROSS
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he 1950s and ’60s were considered the “Contest Era” in America, and no one in the country was better at creating a prize-winning jingle or short poem than Evelyn Ryan. The wife of an alcoholic husband and the mother of 10 growing children, Evelyn entered contests to help stave off poverty for her family. She won a stunning number of times, averaging one prize every four times she entered; she won kitchen appliances, TVs, watches, sports equipment, cash, cars, vacations — the lengthy list goes on and on.
26 OHIO COOPERATIVE LIVING • FEBRUARY 2022
She also possessed the uncanny knack for timing in her wins. As an ancient household appliance finally broke down and died, Evelyn would often receive notice that she’d just won a brand-new replacement. “I seem to have a knack for words,” she admitted. Doing much of her writing while standing at an ironing board, pressing her family’s mounds of clothes, she recorded her thoughts in an ever-present, spiral-bound notebook she kept close at hand.
