Star shines for Sue Steppelman

Sue Steppelman with her daughter, Lisa Steppelman.
Sue Steppelman with her daughter, Lisa Steppelman.

While most of us have our favorite Christmas stories or films - we all know the adaptations of the poems "Twas the Night Before Christmas" or "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer," written or introduced in 1939 - there's a lesser-known yet heartwarming tale by local author Sue Steppelman that has been a family tradition for the past 54 years.

Her story "Dimmy," is about a star that didn't shine that bright but still played an important role in the biblical story of Jesus' birth. Although Steppelman wrote the short story in 1962, it wasn't published until 24 years later in the December 1986 issue of Wee Wisdom, a monthly children's magazine. Published by the Unity School of Christianity in Kansas City for almost a century, from 1894 to 1991, it's the oldest continuously published children's magazine in the country. Each issue of the subscription-only publication contained stories, poems and activities and at one time reached a circulation of 200,000 homes.

"I was over the moon when I received the magazine with my story in it in the mail," Steppelman said at her home in Jefferson City. "I don't remember what I was paid or if I was even paid at all, but that wasn't important. I was so thrilled it was published and the artist (Evan Lattimer) did a fantastic job with the illustrations."

The story begins:

Many hundreds of years ago, a little star named Dimmy was in the sky. He was a very nice little star, but one thing was wrong with him. He didn't shine like the other stars. In the daytime it wasn't so bad, but at night Dimmy was the darkest, dullest and saddest little star in all the heavens.

With Christmas carols playing in the background, Steppelman, 81, recently shared her story and her memories of that time with the News Tribune, taking her back to 1962 when she was 27 years old.

"Most people that know about the story thought I wrote it for my two daughters but that's not the case," she said.

Married to her husband, Jerry, she was then a young stay-at-home mother raising two preschool daughters, Lisa and Kelly. Reading the daily News Tribune one day, an article on Nazi Germany and the gas chambers caught her eye.

"The article talked about these two little girls, aged 3 and 5, who were picking their way over rocks and unbeknownst to them, were on their way to the gas chamber," she recalled. "We (she and her husband, Jerry), had two little girls that same age and that image of the eldest girl helping the younger one broke my heart."

As a young child, her grandmother Dolly, known as "Mama," lived in the historic Schmidt Apartments and had taken her to the Capitol Theater, where she watched a news reel about the Holocaust before the film. The newspaper article stirred up the horror again and she tossed and turned that night.

"I lay in my bed, weeping over what I had read. My beloved grandmother had always told me when I could not sleep to 'to think of good things.' I told that to my children, too," she said. "So as I attempted to put those precious little girls in Germany out of my mind, the story of the star crept into my mind. I sat up and wrote the idea on a piece of paper by my bed and the next morning, I wrote the story."

Perhaps it was divine intervention that gave her the foresight to write the main premise down, but the words poured out of her; the entire story came to her in that way other authors and songwriters describe the creative process.

"I had always liked to write but had never written anything but college papers," said Steppelman, who acted in many plays at Jefferson City High School and at William Woods University, where she graduated with a degree in drama and a minor in journalism.

The only story she had ever written, Steppelman felt it had a future. She continued to polish and perfect her story and eventually sent it to numerous publishers that were popular in children's literature.

"I received many rejections, they would all say the same thing, 'not interested at this time,' which meant ever," said Steppelman, who would go on to work as a secretary in the Missouri House of Representatives.

After a while, with the exception of reading it to her daughters and sharing it with a few coworkers and the children at East School where she served as a mentor, it sat in a drawer for more than two decades. Until one day, Steppelman revisited the story and submitted it to Wee Wisdom.

The story continues:

Dimmy always hurried to where he was needed. He faithfully polished all the other stars till they shone as brightly as the moon. But none of their bright sparkle ever seemed to rub off on little Dimmy. Then he would fade off into a far corner of the heavens and, crying quietly, rub himself with stardust. But it seemed he just could not shine.

Although perhaps thousands of children read the story in the magazine, since then Steppelman, hasn't shared it much with the local community. She read the story to her daughters every Christmas Eve and eventually shared it with a few coworkers and also read it at East School, where she served as a mentor.

But now all these years later, Steppelman read it to the children attending the annual Angel Procession at SSM St. Mary's Hospital. For the first time, this event was open to the public and held in conjunction with a special Christmas Tree of Love, the St. Mary's Auxiliary fundraiser, where ornaments are available for purchase in memory or honor of loved ones. (See the story on the Angel Procession in today's News Tribune).

"The ceremony is in memory or honor of loved ones and mom's story came to my mind as it's tied in with angels, stars and the Christmas story," said her daughter, Lisa, the volunteer coordinator and gift shop manager at SSM St. Mary's Hospital.

Steppelman agreed to read "Dimmy" to the children because its theme of being different but special still resonates with them.

"I hope the children enjoy it and take something positive away. There's so much bullying going on and that's what was happening to that little star," she said.

Steppelman and her husband will celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in January and her two grandchildren, Sloan Pleus and Christopher Steppelman Verslues, are now in college, but the story remains a special part of her life and history.

She and her family would like to see it live on and hope to have it published as a children's book.

"Even today if I think about the story about those two children during the Holocaust, it brings tears to my eyes. It was the saddest story I had ever read. And now people are trying to say that this never happened," she said. "But I believe that out of that unspeakable evil, came grace and love and the story of a very special star Dimmy."

I know Dimmy is not the most glittering star among you, but Dimmy is the kindest and most deserving star in the entire sky. You see, it is not always outward glitter that counts. What counts is the inner glow and the kind, unselfish deeds that come from a warm and shining heart like Dimmy's.

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This article appears in the December 2016 issue of Active Life.