Person

Stevenson, Suzanne (née Silvercruys)

1898-1973

Suzanne Lucienne André Relinde Silvercruys was born 29 May 1898 in Maaseik, Belgium. She was the daughter of Baron Frantz (Francois-Xavier-Benoit) Silvercruys (1859-1936) and Flore-Louise-Marie Cocq (Falloise) (18??-1935). She was educated at “Les filles de la Croix” in Liege and at the Sisters of Notre-Dame in Brussels during her early years. Following the outbreak of the First World War she worked with the ambulance service and Edith Cavell (1865-1915) in Brussels. She was accused of espionage and was freed because she was underage. She fled Belgium for Holland in April 1915 and travelled to England where she studied at Newham College at Cambridge. She sailed for America in July 1915 on board the S.S. Paul and subsequently attended school at the Georgetown Visitation Convent in Washington, D.C. In 1917, she studied nursing at the Pennsylvania University Hospital. She was known as the “little Belgian girl” who spoke about the plight of the Belgians and helped raise over one million dollars in relief funds on behalf of the government in exile. For her actions she was awarded honors including: Order of Leopold, Order of the Crown and the British Coronation Medal. Following a bout of pneumonia she became interested in sculpture and attended the Yale School of Fine Arts where she graduated in 1928 with her BFA. She was awarded first prize in New York in 1926 and at the Rome Alumni competition in 1927. She subsequently studied with Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929) in Paris. Thereafter, she had a long and successful career creating sculptures of many notable figures as well as teaching and touring. She was active in politics with the Republican Party but later left to start her own parties. She was an organizer of the Young Republican League of Connecticut. She was the founder and first national chair of the Minute Women of the United States of America. She left her former role in 1954 and was a co-founder of the Constitution Party. She ran for political office twice: as a Republican candidate in the 1946 election for the House of Representatives and as an independent Republican in the 1956 election to the United States Senate. She authored her autobiography “Suzanne of Belgium” (1932); a play entitled “There is no death” (1933); and a “Primer of sculpture” (1933). She was awarded honorary degrees from Temple University (1942) and Mount Allison University (1966). She was married to Henry Walcott Farnum, Jr. (1894-1970) on 18 May 1922 and became an American citizen that same year. They later divorced. Her second husband was Edward Ford Stevenson (1894-1960) who she married on 10 June 1939. She died in Baltimore, Maryland on 31 March 1973. She is buried in the Saint Philip Cemetery in Ashford, Windham County, Connecticut.

Belgium
United States of America