The Company:
Standing, from left: Ruth, Terrie, Sara, Carol, Nancy B., Susan, Linda J. Seated: Eva, Jane, Paula, Nancy G. Not pictured: Barb, Linda G., Diane, Sue
Our History (as best as we can recollect it)
In the beginning there was Linda J. and Sara. Sara recollects the opening conversation taking place while both were pushing strollers; Linda remembers it occurring on her front porch. But the idea of a book club almost certainly arose from Linda’s experience with the Edina Newcomers Book Club during the five years she and Dick were in Minneapolis, and it definitely blossomed when she discussed the notion with Sara.
The Edina group comprised mostly mothers of young children who were eager to have a night out once a month to enjoy adult conversation with other like-circumstanced women. What better way to achieve that than to organize a conversation about a book over wine, cheese, and crackers with each member of the group taking her turn hosting the group in her home?
What worked in Minneapolis seemed likely to work in Omaha, and the pioneers of the First Tuesday Company, Ltd.—Linda J., Sara, Sue, Nancy G., and Anne Dittrick— first met on (what else?) the first Tuesday of some month in the fall of 1982. We didn’t have a printed schedule until Sue took over the task in the spring of 1983. By that time we’d also added some new members: Cyndi Kugler, Karen Pinsky, and Linda Cheatham.
Our “rules” initially were only that each member was supposed to read all the books we’d chosen. We had no discussion leader, and our books were selected from books members had read, heard about, or read about. Eventually, we decided our discussions could profit from a little more direction, so one among us volunteered for that job each month. We also found ourselves reading enough unsuitable books that it was strongly recommended a member should have read a book herself before nominating it for the group.
Most of us had young children back in the beginning, so we met at 8:00 in the evening, presumably after dinner and dishes were done. We rotated hosting responsibilities, and soon learned that our “Christmas party” really should be a New Year’s party because it was very difficult to play Santa Claus and read a book at the same time in December. We also learned that summer, when the children were out of school, was not a good time to do serious reading, so we suspended meeting during July and August. September became the time to select the next year’s reading, and June, at the request of some of the spouses, became the meeting to which men were invited to join our discussion.
Our pioneering group of five has remained remarkably stable, having lost only Anne Dittrick who suffered a sudden massive heart attack and died in 2005. We lost Cyndi, Karen, and Linda C. to other interests early on, but added current members Ruth and Paula by the fall of 1983, Nancy B. in 1984, Terrie and Jane in 1985, Carol in 1991, Eva in 1992, Susan in 2001, Diane in 2008, Linda G. in 2011, and Barb in 2012.
25th Anniversary
Nancy G. engineered a wonderful 25th anniversary celebration for us in 2007. Together we read Mari Sandoz’s biography of Crazy Horse, then in the early summer most of us drove together out to western Nebraska.
After a morning’s drive we lunched at the über-exclusive Sandhills club, then made our way to the Sandoz homestead, the childhood home of Mari and where “Old Jules” had, among other things, experimented with growing fruit trees in the arid west.
The next day we visited Chadron State College where the Sandoz Center is located. We had a guided tour of the facility, visited the Mari Sandoz archives, and sat down for a discussion of Mari and, specifically, the writing of her biography of Crazy Horse.
After lunch and a quick tour of the Museum of the Fur Trade, we were off to Harrison where Sue and Sara’s family own two vast ranches. We dined at the beautiful Hat Creek ranch thanks to the hospitality of Virginia (Sara and Sue’s mother) and Sue. Fort Robinson, the place where Crazy Horse was fatally wounded by a prison guard, is very near by, and Sue (or was it Virginia?) arranged for us to have a guided tour of the facilities.
Then it was north to the Black Hills to see the (truly!) monumental sculpture of Crazy Horse being blasted out of the rock.
Our Willa Cather Trip
Christmas Party, 2023
It was a splendid party in Ruth’s beautiful home where a fabulous time was had by all.
