The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio

How my mother raised 10 kids on 25 words or less

By: Terry Ryan

Narrated by: Terry Ryan

The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio introduces Evelyn Ryan, an enterprising woman who kept poverty at bay with wit, poetry, and perfect prose during the “contest era” of the 1950s and 1960s.

Stepping back into a time when fledgling advertising agencies were active partners with consumers, and everyday people saw possibility in every coupon, Terry Ryan tells how her mother kept the family afloat by writing jingles and contest entries. Mom’s winning ways defied the Church, her alcoholic husband, and antiquated views of housewives. To her, flouting convention was a small price to pay when it came to securing a happy home for her six sons and four daughters. Evelyn, who would surely be a Madison Avenue executive if she were working today, composed her jingles not in the boardroom, but at the ironing board.

By entering contests wherever she found them—TV, radio, newspapers, direct-mail ads—Evelyn Ryan was able to win every appliance her family ever owned, not to mention cars, television sets, bicycles, watches, a jukebox, and even trips to New York, Dallas, and Switzerland. But it wasn’t just the winning that was miraculous; it was the timing. If a toaster died, one was sure to arrive in the mail from a forgotten contest. Days after the bank called in the second mortgage on the house, a call came from the Dr Pepper company: Evelyn was the grand-prize winner in its national contest—and had won enough to pay the bank.

Graced with a rare appreciation for life's inherent hilarity, Evelyn turned every financial challenge into an opportunity for fun and profit. From her frenetic supermarket shopping spree—worth $3,000 today—to her clever entries worthy of Erma Bombeck, Dorothy Parker, and Ogden Nash, the story of this irrepressible woman whose talents reached far beyond her formidable verbal skills is told in The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio with an infectious joy that shows how a winning spirit will triumph over the poverty of circumstance.©2001 Terry Ryan, All Rights Reserved; (P)2001 Simon & Schuster Inc., All Rights Reserved; AUDIOWORKS Is an Imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster Inc.

Critic reviews

"Nabs first prize in the memoir genre"
-- People (Book of the Week)

Heatwarming and Absorbing

I recomend this read to anyone. Once you begin you will not want to stop so set it aside for a road trip, etc. It takes you back to a time when integrity and resourcefullness were more common and lends you to hope that this could happen again. If you are in a slump this book can do nothing but pick you up. We could all take a lesson from Evelyn. I hope this will become a movie.

The story is great

but Terry Ryan is not a particularly good reader. I read the first few chapters of this book at a friend's house when it was newly published and always meant to finish it. I'm generally not a fan of abridged works, but in this case the abridged memoir trims some of the repetition of the original. The only real problem is that Terry Ryan's reading of her work is never particularly engaging and at times very irritating as she reads at a very dull monotone.

Loved it!

This is a quick listen, very interesting characters. True story of a mom who had to enter contests in the 1950s to make money for her family to survive. Good writing, good characters...a bit sappy at times, however. Narration is good as well. I would recommend this one.

Wish I had the Unabridged

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I enjoyed how the writer told the story of her mom's and family's unique way of survival. I wanted to know more about the characters and how the author's mom kept the family together through her prize winnings.

Totally Delightful!

I had read Terry Ryan's book when it was newly published and enjoyed it very much. When I saw that it was available via Audible, I never hesitated to purchase it and listen to Terry read it--in fact, I think I'll probably download it again and again. The writing is refreshing and truly a work to honor her mother, father and siblings. I recommend this to anyone who wants to hear an amazing story of a family growing up in the fifties in hard times.