Ferner Nuhn

Ferner Nuhn (July 25, 1903 – April 15, 1989) was an American writer, literary critic, and artist born in Cedar Falls, Iowa, the son of William C. and Anna R. Nuhn. He described his background as Middle Western of mixed German, Swiss and Pennsylvania Dutch ancestry. He lived in various sections of the country, from California to Vermont, and married noted Iowa writer Ruth Suckow in 1929. He was a literary critic, teacher, writer, and artist; he and his wife were both active in the Quakers and part of the Conscientious Objectors movement in World War II. After his wife's death, in 1960, he worked to preserve her literary legacy, founded the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association, remarried Georgeanna (Georgia) Washburn Dafoe, and taught at Claremont College before retiring. He died in 1989 after the death of his second wife, and is buried beside Ruth in Greenwood Cemetery in Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Early life

Nuhn attended Lincoln School through fourth grade, Jefferson (or West) School through sixth and Lincoln again through eighth grade. He graduated from Cedar Falls High School with the class of 1920. Local Historian Dorothy Grant describes his family this way: his father was in banking and real estate while his mother was a homemaker. He had two siblings: Marjorie and Hilde.

Writing career begins Nuhn drove a Yellow Cab in Chicago and used the pseudonym of Yellow to contribute a number of items to the Daily News column run by Keith Preston. He enrolled at Columbia University graduate school, with the idea of continuing an academic career, which ended when H. L. Mencken accepted one of his stories for the American Mercury. Dorothy Grant says that Nuhn said, “I decided I already knew too much,” and stopped taking classes to have more time to write. This led to the publication of a number of stories, reviews, and articles in The New Yorker, The Nation, The New Republic, The American Mercury, The Christian Century, and other magazines, especially Quaker publications.

When they met, Ruth was 36 and Nuhn was 25: the age difference did not seem to bother him, but troubled her at first. They shared a love of cats, and Nuhn once playfully compared Ruth to his cat, Persephone, telling her that he wasn't afraid of her sharp claws: "...both of you have sharp claws, though neither of you use them much,"

Nuhn and Suckow continued their friendship in New York City, where he attended Columbia University graduate school. His interest in writing was encouraged by the publication of several stories in The American Mercury, edited by H. L. Mencken, in 1927-28.

Rebecca Christian describes the next seven years of Nuhn and Ruth's lives together by saying that they traveled extensively: “roosting and writing in cabins, ramshackle old houses or writers’ colonies in places such as the Iowa Mississippi river town of McGregor; northern Minnesota; Des Moines; the MacDowell Colony at Peterborough, N. H.; and Washington, D. C. They also visited the writers’ retreat, Yaddo in Saratoga Springs, where Suckow hated the pretentious atmosphere of artsy largesse from people ‘rotten with money’ but loved the quiet and the food.” At Yaddo, each writer had a small cabin and meals were brought on a tray and left at the door, so they could focus on their writing.

Two other paintings remain of Nuhn's, now housed at the Ruth Suckow Library in Earlville. One is of Ruth's cottage, while the other one shows one of their cats (always white). Nuhn also designed a bookplate for Ruth, including a cat. He describes witnessing a forced farm sale in Iowa in the 1930s. The article begins with the comment that “Some may think of farmers as conservative, but that view ignores a long tradition of rural radicalism in the United States. In the early years of the Great Depression, that radicalism found powerful expression in the subverting of farm foreclosures and tax sales. The technique was simple—when a farm was foreclosed for overdue taxes or failure to meet mortgage payments, neighbors would show up at the auction and intimidate any potential buyers. Then the farm and equipment would be purchased at a token price and returned to the original owner.”

In 1934 Nuhn was invited to Washington, D. C. to work as a writer in the Agricultural Adjustment Administration under Henry A. Wallace. He served there for two years, enjoying learning something about the workings of the federal government. During part of this time he worked with Henry Wallace in the writing of Wallace's book, Whose Constitution.

In the fall of 1936, Nuhn and Ruth returned to Cedar Falls because his father was sick. They lived at 2215 Grand Boulevard until 1942, then at 1223 West Second Street. Nuhn helped his father manage his business property. On the death of his father, Nuhn continued in this role.

Nuhn was interested in art, Dorothy writes, because his sister Marjorie was a talented artist. He founded the Cedar Falls Art League in the early 1940s and his mother, Anna, let him have a large upstairs room over the Miller Shoe store at Main Street for the exhibits. This was an active organization, offering art classes for children and adults, displaying artwork in exhibits, and sponsoring receptions. Nuhn was its president for six years: Dorothy and her husband were charter members. The organization sought to encourage the showing and purchase of original paintings and other art by local and area artists. The present Hearst Center for the Arts grew out of that earlier organization. Nuhn came back to Cedar Falls to exhibit his sister Marjorie's paintings in the old downtown high school. Marjorie was already in a nursing home, but appreciated his efforts. Dorothy remembers that Nuhn was a fine host and that he gave all of her remaining paintings to the Hearst Center, along with money for the Marjorie Nuhn Conservation Room.

This certainly fits with what we know about his wife, Ruth Suckow. Rebecca Christian writes that Suckow established contact with the conscientious objectors to World War II in 1943. (She had found World War I profoundly disturbing and her relationship with her father had been damaged by his activities supporting the war.) In 1944 she traveled to the West Coast to visit six Civilian Public Service camps and one mental hospital. She spoke on writing and literature, read manuscripts, and encouraged young men.

Retirement to California and death

In 1947, because of Ruth's health problems, Nuhn and Ruth moved to Tucson, Arizona; Ruth had rheumatoid arthritis, while Nuhn had asthma and allergies, so they hoped to find relief in a warmer climate. Later, in 1952, they moved to Claremont, California. They lived in a small house at 420 West 8th Street and were active in the Society of Friends (Quakers). They returned to Iowa for visits.

Two years after Georgia's death, Nuhn moved to the Santa Rosa retirement facility in 1986. Three years later, at age 85, he died—on April 15, 1989, having been in frail health for some time. There was a local memorial service. His body was then sent to Cedar Falls, Iowa so that he could be buried next to his beloved wife, Ruth, in Greenwood Cemetery in Cedar Falls, Iowa. However, it was not until 2009 that a headstone was erected to mark the spot; members of the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association worked with his remaining family members to correct the oversight. Ruth is now buried between the two men who so strongly influenced her: her father, William Suckow, and her husband, Ferner Nuhn.

Literary legacy

While Nuhn was not the prolific writer that Ruth was, he was a critic, scholar and accomplished writer. He captured the plight of the Midwestern farmers during the Great Depression in his essay for the Nation about farm sales. In addition, he is credited with writing about the Society of Friends (Quakers). Furthermore, without his efforts to establish the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association and related activities to reprint some of her books, it is not certain that the current generation of readers would be able to read some of Ruth Suckow's books.

Two of Suckow's earlier books were reprinted, largely due to his advocacy and the establishment of the Ruth Suckow Memorial Association. The University of Iowa Press, in Iowa City, Iowa released The Folks (1992) and New Hope (1998). In addition, A Ruth Suckow Omnibus came out in 1988; this contained eleven of her short stories. It also included an introductory essay by Suckow Scholar Clarence A. Andrews, a longtime member of the RSMA.

In addition, he wrote several booklets published by Historical Societies and the Quakers.