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Author seeks photos, stories for second Struthers book
By EMMALEE C. TORISK
STRUTHERS
For her second book about her hometown, Patricia Ringos Beach isn’t overly concerned with facts, dates and specific details as she was for the first.
Instead of creating a historical record, she’s hoping the book, to be published next spring, will read more like a scrapbook of life in Struthers, reminding past and present residents of just how much — and, maybe, how little — their city has changed over the years.
She’s hoping, too, that some of those residents will share with her their photographs and stories, particularly of things no longer there or that might have been missed in the first book.
“I’m very interested in what people remember,” said Beach, a 1973 graduate of Struthers High School.
Memories of Struthers, she added, could range from visiting long-shuttered downtown and neighborhood businesses to swimming at “the Birdbath” — the community swimming pool on Wetmore Drive that nature has since overtaken — to dropping off and picking up Dad at the steel mill. Even stories and photos from as recent as the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s are “historic now too,” Beach said.
And she wants to know about them all.
“I try to look for things that a lot of people would relate to and be interested in — things that would appeal to the average person in Struthers,” Beach said, adding that her favorite memories of Struthers involve Yellow Creek Park; growing up, she lived right across the street, and would see the park every morning when she awoke.
Work on this second book began in earnest in January, with the help of Marian Kutlesa, founder of the Struthers Historical Society. A portion of the book’s profits will be donated to the historical society.
“It contains our histories, the stories of people,” Kutlesa said. “They’d be lost otherwise.”
Beach, who lives in Toledo, said she plans to visit Struthers at least once a month until the book is finished but explained that the distance is helpful, allowing her to gain a different perspective of the material and structure the book accordingly.
To contribute to the book, contact Patricia Ringos Beach at patricia.beach3@gmail.com, or Marian Kutlesa at 330-755-7189 or mariankutlesa@yahoo.com. All submissions of photos and stories are welcome, and materials will be promptly returned and credited to the source.
As with “Images of America: Struthers,” the first book that came out in 2008, the second volume will be published by Arcadia Publishing, which is the leading local history publisher in the U.S., according to its website. The publisher’s “Images of America” series spotlights the history of small towns and downtowns — and Beach said she was shocked to learn, back in 2007, that no one had yet written a Struthers book for the series.
Beach hasn’t lived in Struthers since 1980, but the good family and many good friends, along with the abundance of fond memories from her hometown stuck with her and also inspired her to put together the books.
“I always felt safe here and taken care of,” Beach said. “It’s a place where I feel loved.”
Beach, who works as a clinical nurse specialist and has long had an interest in writing, has also published other work, including a book for parents of seriously ill adult children. She’s not sure, however, that she’ll write a third installment on Struthers; it’s time for a new point of view, she said.
She’s grateful to have had the opportunity to work on those two books, though — and in particular, to help others to understand the history of Struthers and to record it for the future.
“People can take pride in that,” Beach said. “They maybe can better understand the work ethic, the celebrations, the traditions we have and why they keep going.”
“We’re keepers of the history,” Kutlesa added.