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and he grew 187 species of iris in his He averaged 2 books Connecticut home. annually for 30 years Amazingly, Stout could whip out a Wolfe novel in little over a month's time. ne of the most prolific mystery "''ve never rewritten a page. never made writers of the 20th century was an outline," he once said in an interview. born in Noblesville. Rex "I just start off with a single sheet of· 0 Todhunter Stout wrote six paper with the character's names. their dozen novels during his lifetime. ages and what they do." His family of 11 were Quakers and his For the next 30 years. Stout had an father once shared the jobs of owner and average of two books published every o::ditor of The Noblesville Ledger. They year to satisfy his readership. When he lived at 1151 Cherry St., but eventually affected his fortune. died, 40 of his books were still in print his family moved to Kansas, where he At age 43 his first book, "How Like a and had been translated into 28 grew up. During his youth, he was an God," was published. His budding writ­ languages. avid reader and breezed through the ing career got a boost five years later in Bible and his father's 1,200-book library 1934 when he introduced the fictional A couple of his books were later before he graduated from high school. detective in a book titled turned into movies, but the gray-bearded "Fer-de-Lance." man was never fond of that medium. He tried college, but decided he was not Rex Todhunter Stout remained ~ going to learn anything there. So off he Most Wolfe stories were murder mys­ His fan club, called the Wolfe Pack, popular figure into his 80s went to the Navy for awhile. teries and readers soon became hooked gathered in New York City in 1988 to because of the popularity of his After the Navy, he began writing short on the overweight, orchid-loving detec­ honor Stout on the 100th anniversary of murder mysteries involving the his birth. stories for magazines and invented a tive and his suave sidekick Archie character Nero Wolfe. school savings banking system, which he Goodwin. Noblesvillle-Southeastet"n Public sold to more than 400 school boards. It's no mystery why the Goodwin char­ Library in Noblesville has most of the Source: lVhos Who in America and However, the stock market crash of 1929 acter liked orchids. Stout loved flowers books by Stout. Stottts books. ,_

• • • ~-· .. By JIM NEAL \-. . \1. ··:;· . . . . ' ~e!~ ~a~c:!o129 b:::n J:t:::; : . ·_~;~:{~ . f~ Only -~ last week this column that eventually had two million ~;~~-~. _;.:;. 1; mentioned th:jl. )ne of the pic· school children enrolled in 420 ; · --~ tures in the 1970 Hamilton ·ues, has· wasted time '··- · County Historical Calendar lit~le ,:.~_··!. <·;:·~~ nee he was born here tn 1886 ' · · --'': . · showed the house in which Rex Stout, famous author of fictional F'-- - ''There is Twell ciriuraf~~ :'·-''~ :;! . detC'ctive stories, was born here report that Stout had read the t'::, '.. -:· .in Noblesville. . , i !/ Bible twice by_ the Jime he was- r..,~ - :· I now-have-a copy of:th~.'-Sun- \ 3. He' scoffs at this. He read ' ·-'-' ·-.:. , day, Oct. 5, 1969 Washington it only once, he said. Though ,~.:! Post and it contains ·an out­ he's a birthright Quaker, he will -:·~ l standing feature story, with tre­ mendous pictures, about this 82· ~=~~ ~~a~~c~~~!~~i;:li~~~~~:~ :·:J:~~~:;_ :.~~~~ year-old writer. as a matter oC:~fWth. No matter i j.,._.::. .-·~;. The article appears in the how he made out :with the Bible, '·~, Post's Style Show section under he did read throt,~gh his father's ~; ' ., .-:b "The Arts." It is the kind of . 1,200-book library, and~ numer· '.· .; ~-Jr thing that only a large newspa­ ous other books, , by ··.the time .,_, '· 1 per like the Post can do and · he was 13 ot· 14." . : • · ,l · ··~f:' Phil Casey, the . author of the Stout served in the .Navy in r .-. · article, did a superb job in .tell· the early 1900's and was a. yeo---· : ·.-.. ing about this Quaker son of man on the presidential yacht a school teacher who also was in 1906 when one of his duties •_';~·.. . a weekly newspaper editor. was to ·look after Kermit and : ~­ The article runs in the neigh· Quentin Roosevelt. He had so f · . ·._, borhood of five columns of type many experiences of this kind r·-_ · · . or approximately 4,000 words that it was ·no wonder The which is equivalent to four of Washiniton Post writer needed · · · ... these County Line columns, so so much space to . tell the story , ~ I woul~ like to steal · only a · ' of Stout. . ·.. , j. •·. :· ·~ ·• Regarding llfr, stol.it had this couple of paragraphs. Casey f ~ ·. ., writes as follows: to say, "I· thlitoughl~.. approve ~ . of life. Not reverence for life. ~- ·: .~ "Stout was born in Nobles­ !-,· ville, Ind., the sixth of nine chil· I approve of lif~ 'itself. I have · dren and descendant of a ·long no quarrel with nature. !'- - . . ' line of Quakers on both sides "People are .always./ saying f.· -~- of the family. His father .taught somethh)g is unnatural. -.How can math, ran a weekly newspaper it be unnatural if it ha!lpens~" t ., · ~ and later became a county About himself he adds, ''My . [ school~ superintendent in Kan­ great lack is