Local Author Pens New Book

By Cary Shuman

Winthrop resident Sue Chidlovski has written a poignant and colorful look back in time and in her life with the release of her debut book, “Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig.”

The book is a memoir of her growing up in the 1940s and 1950s in the small Midwestern town of Monett, Missouri.

Chidlovski, 75, began the interview by explaining the meaning of the title of her book.

“It’s a nursery rhyme and whenever we would pull up in front of the home, my mother would always turn to me and say, ‘Home again, home again, jiggity jig,’’’ related Chidlovski. “Because I dedicated the book to my mother, I chose this nursery rhyme that she always repeated. It reminded me of her.

Ironically many people have commented to me after reading the book that their mother or grandmother would often say the same nursery rhyme.”

“Susie” (Stone) Chidlovski is the daughter of Glenn “Stonie” Stone, a bus driver who also had a shop to repair clocks and watches, and Lela Clayton Stone, a woman of many jobs and talents including working at the local cleaners and the local theater.

“The book is just me growing up in Monett and it ends at the day I’m driving away to leave to go to college (School of the Ozarks in Bransom, Missouri),” said Chidlovski, who lived with her family in an apartment in the back of her father’s watch shop.

The book starts out in the 1800s as Chidlovski traces her ancestors, who were Native Americans living in Missouri, Texas, and Oklahoma.

“My father’s grandmother was a full-blooded Cherokee Indian as was her mother,” said Chidlovski, herself a Native American.

She was born in Monett on Dec. 20, 1942, after her mother went into labor during a bus ride.

“The bus driver, who later became my godfather, continued the ride with the passengers to the farmhouse where my grandparents lived and my grandmother delivered me while the passengers drank the homemade wine.”

Chidlovski attended elementary school, junior high, and high school in her hometown. “There were very good people and very good neighbors living there.”

Calling herself a lifelong storyteller (“I think that’s my Indian heritage”), Chidlovski delivers to her readers a unique coming-of-age story that reminds readers of the joy, living, and blessings that surround life.

“It’s my recollections of the people I knew growing up. We had a German community near Monett and most of the people were small-town farmers. I write about my teacher, Miss Jones, in the book. She was my inspiration to become a teacher. I used her style as a disciplinarian when I taught. I taught in St. Louis and when I came to Winthrop, I taught for five years at St. John’s School in Winthrop.”

Chidlovski writes about a childhood when lives were filled with simpler thoughts and deeds. She writes proudly of her parents, their changes and losses. She recounts her memories of rock ‘n’ roll, the daunting fear of polio, and a nation looking at future space travel to the moon.

“With today’s turbulent events in the world and our lives, we long for stories of yesteryear and simpler days. We long to feel comforted and safe. Escaping to yesteryear, my book offers a choice of neighboring kindnesses and a quieter life.” Following her college years in Missouri, Chidlovski received her master’s degree from Emerson College, Boston. She was an elementary school teacher and became a highly regarded society editor for newspapers in South Carolina. She came to Winthrop 36 years ago and took a position as a writer for the Winthrop Sun-Transcript and the Chelsea Record. Chidlovski also worked as an elementary teacher and directed plays for community theaters highlighted by a stint as president of the Winthrop Playmakers. She also served as an assistant to the chair of the performing arts at Emerson College, where she retired after 17 years.

She is married to noted Russian hockey historian Arthur Chidlovski. She has one daughter, Melissa McCullough, who is director of health and safety at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute.

Chidlovski said that Suzanne Martucci’s Winthrop Book Depot is selling copies of her book at her café in Winthrop Center. She has donated a copy of the book to the Winthrop Public Library and the Robert A. DeLeo Senior Center library.

The book is also on sale in the gift shop at the Monett Museum in her old hometown.

“They love the book back home,” said Chidlovski.