A surprise from "The Marble Lady"

[jbriley]

I was sitting here at the house today, and during a quiet moment I decided to send an e-mail to Cathy Runyan-Svacina. For those not familiar with the name, she wrote a wonderful little book called "Knuckles Down." It is a comprehensive guide to marbles: terminology, games, etc.

My grandfather purchased the book for me while I was vacationing with them in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. In the e-mail, I told Mrs. Runyan-Svacina how her book and marbles had helped me through a very rough patch during my teen and young adult years. I don't want to go into the detail here, but suffice to say, I was at the end of my rope, and her book provided me with a kind of mental safe haven that really helped me through it. I just wanted to thank her, let her know that she had touched someone's life.

To my surprise, she e-mailed me back and said that she was going to send me an autographed copy of her book!

For all of the pain and suffering we collectively experience, and see on the news every night, it is really nice to know that there are still people out there with good hearts who care about their fellow man/womankind.

[Ric]

There are a lot of good people in this hobby. Cathy is certainly one them. She has been an outstanding ambassador of marbles for many years. It was very thoughtful of you to write her. I'll bet you made her day.

[Al]

She & Larry's marble collection (or a large part of it) are in a wing of a museum somewhere in the Midwest - can't remember where right off hand.

[c garrett]

JB, i have known Cathy for a few years and see her a few times a year and she is a very very sweet lady and is still like a lot of us very passionate about furthering the hobby and getting the young kids of today involved. We have a lot of fun at the marble shows when i see her and Larry, great great friends. Their collection is on display for all to see at the Kansas City Toy and Miniture museum west of uptown Kansas City about six blocks. I have visited the museum myself with a good friend and could have stayed a week to look and study the marbles and related things to marbles they have in there. I personally recommend that when you are that way stop in and see it, you will not be dissapointed at all. Chuck G--

[Pete]

Cathy is great, and yea you made her day I bet, don't underestimate the impact of that email, that was very thoughtful to do - you brought it full circle!

Cathy travels the Country and runs "marble days" at the schools. She gives a presentation about the kindness marble (polymer clay marbles), sometimes she makes them with the kids, and/or organizes a tournament. A lot of teacher's feature marble-centric lessons around her visit. It's really great what she does. She also provides our Show-Off trays - a top seller. She invented them and had them made to store her collection.

Google her and read more about her - just google "the marble lady," you'll find her...

[jbriley]

She informed me recently that the Cub Scouts offer a badge in marbles, and suggested that I may enjoy helping a den get this badge. In a previous post, I was lamenting the loss of marbles as a favorite pastime. What a great idea for introducing the game to a whole new generation. She really is a wonderful ambassador. Through her, I also met a lot of truly nice people here locally (Tulsa, OK) in a marble club. She paid the membership for both my wife and me. She has inspired me to go above and beyond collecting, and stop complaining about how marbles is becoming a thing of the past, and to actually get out there and do something proactive and positive to change that.

[Pete]

LandOfMarbles.com is all about trying to turn that around. So far, so good!! LOM has grown every year, except 2009 and 2010, but 2011 was bigger than ever and we are on track to break records again!

Cob Scout leaders buying marbles for their den to earn the marble badge is a huge boost to the game! So are school and camp tournaments. Cub scouts can also build a marble collection to earn the collecting badge.

I am reworking the "How To Play Marbles" page to optimize for smart phones. People searching marbles on their smart phones will find rules for dozens of games right on their smart phones for easy playground reference! I will announce that here, on facebook and in the Marbleous News when complete. It's looking great and I am excited about it!!