Iowa City Couple Collects Nativity Scenes from Around the World

IOWA CITY - Italy and Germany, China and Japan, Zimbabwe and New Zealand.

Everywhere in the world Christmas is celebrated. And, nearly everywhere, it seems, Edith and Bob Summers have collected a Nativity set upon their personal visit. In all, over the last 50 years, the Iowa City couple has collected more than 600 Nativity sets.

"I tell my wife we have a disease," laughs Bob, 73.

"Rather than looking for a lot of souvenirs, we look for Nativity sets," adds Edith, 75.

Some are as small as your little finger; others have figures that stand two feet tall. The couple doesn't go for those you display in the yard and, of course, it's impossible to include a living Nativity Scene in the collection.

But, if you're interested, about 400 of the Nativity sets are on display this weekend at the First Mennonite Church at 405 Myrtle Avenue in Iowa City. The display is open from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. tonight, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday.

Every year, about 300 are displayed in the Summers home. Last Christmas, that included 37 in the main bathroom.

"They were small ones," Edith laughs.

While they love the one nestled inside an egg they brought home from Russia, they've got a special place in their hearts for one about the size of a dollar coin made from Sculpey clay by granddaughter Anna Truszkowski, 11, of Coralville.

Most, however, are tabletop size and accompany tales of their travels.

Behind glass in a nightstand beside their bed, for instance, sits an ornate set from China.

"You see them made in China, but they look like they're made for Americans," Edith says. "We don't like those,"

So, the couple had this one made. The Chinese figures include the three wise men who represent three different dynasties. Since it couldn't be completed before they left, they paid for it and had it shipped home. But they waited six months until it finally arrived,

"There's not another one like it in the world," Edith says.

The same can be said for the one from Finland acquired a month ago.

"Oh, you won't find one here," a storekeeper told them. "We aren't very religious here."

But, the Summers located one with a unique feature - Mary, Joseph, the Christ Child, the three wise men and the shepherds are all faceless.

In contrast, a set from Naples, Italy, not only has distinctive faces on all figures, but also very colorful clothes, the wise men on horseback and an old-world stone backdrop.

"We like the ones that reflect the ethnic quality of the country they come from," Bob says.

Their first Nativity set, carved from Olive wood, was purchased in 1962 at a church bazaar in Iowa City and helped raise money for the third-world country where it was made. They paid $5 for that one; have paid up to $1,000 for another.

"This is the fun time of the year," Bob says. "We go down to the basement and get them out and we remember where we were, where we got them."

Married in 1961 after they'd met at the University of Iowa where both worked in research labs, the couple first traveled the United States with their family in a station wagon, sleeping in a tent. As a gastroenterologist at the University for 41 years, Bob's research allowed them to travel internationally beginning in 1974 with a visit to England and Germany. They've been to Australia, India, Thailand, Brazil and Egypt last year just before the unrest there. But, they've never been to Bethlehem where the Christmas story was born.

"We planned it several times, but something always came up," Bob says.

They were set to visit for their 40th anniversary, Edith says, but the Sept. 11 attack on the World Trade Center made them leery of travel.

"Some day," she says, "We will get there."

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