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Remembering Walter McGhee Hooper (1931 - 2020) When Walter Hooper received the Clyde S. Kilby Lifetime Achievement Award from the Marion E. Wade Center in 2009, his award certifcate read as follows: Walter Hooper editor, biographer, researcher, bibliographer valued friend of the Wade Center, whose myriad and notable accomplishments continue to honor his high regard for the words of C.S. Lewis by helping us better understand his writings, and telling the story of his life, thus ensuring C.S. Lewis’s legacy for the generations to come. “. all His biddings are joys.” C.S. Lewis, Perelandra These words still encompass the legacy of Walter Hooper whose dedication to preserving and making accessible the writings of C.S. Lewis has enriched the lives of countless readers throughout the world. In addition to this very public work of scholarship, Walter was also greatly loved and valued by many who knew him as a friend. We have asked a number of these to share their memories of this gentle, fun-loving and devout man who found great joy in sharing his love for the works of C.S. Lewis with so many others. Clyde S. Kilby Lifetime Achievement Award given to Walter Hooper in 2009 at the Marion E. Wade Center. VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center, Vol. 37 (2020) e123 A Providential Friend Remembering Walter Hooper (1931 - 2020) am ratef to od not on for or fft ears of dear and read friendshi t for Water ooers astonishin steadfastness. tahanoite wor haits, ea for eaneiin on ehaf of the master, and enerosit to other schoars, whom he considered eers, toether inite this estion as an writer eer had a more deoted steward than ewis had in Water Answers from a arters mst ead to this Eer reader drawn frther into ewiss wor, hain heard of ooer or not, owes him a reat det. And am thanf, too, that m friend ied on enoh for m wife and me to hae isited him two ears ao, on enoh for me to hae heard from him that his hainess was setted, not east ecase he new the care of his aers was in maima caae hands at oth the odeian and the Wade Center. e was tain his eae, and he was read. n 9 or 9 Water recommended me to Macmian as the erson to edit C.S. Lewis at the Breakfast Table. efore that we had made a coe of isits to ishers who were imressed and motiated the eistence of the ew or C.. ewis ociet. ater he was reieed that wod write a tric assae for his introdction to All My Road Before Me, and ears after that was deihted to write the entr on he aw of nattention for his Companion. he iddit of the man is dict to render rie, so memories mst e cherriced from a er are ow. e, aon with his mother and ant, hoto cortes of im Como. Walter Hooper, Jim and Alexandra Como. VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center, Vol. 37 (2020) e124 A Providential Friend: Remembering Walter Hooper (1931–2020) e125 cared for m fami when, on saatica in ford, earned of m fathers sdden death and eft m wife and son to retrn to ew or. ears earier, he had encoraed meractica threatenin meto ee ooin for the Midands arm hosita at which m father had sered, as the three of s careened driin ie Mr. oad in enneth rahames Wind in the Willows) in search of the ace. n one isit to the .. he was in a reosteros hea sitcase. What cod e inside ased. ae a oo, he said. fond an aer. t wh ased. ecase, he answered, Enish aer is of a dierent sie than American, and, need to wor here. e tod others how, when aot to coo sahetti, he tried to cont the strands, afordie, nti assred him that no strand wod e eft ehind if we cooed the whoe ond. o m chidren he was nce Water, to Aeandra an a, as when he caoed me into driin to Connectict to retriee some fne china. resisted nti he descried the eat of the set, second, he added, on to Ae- andras own. We se it to this da. is hih sirits were most eident in the ostmortems that foowed a dinner art. hen, for eame, his ift for nicnames wod nfr. A friend with amost no facia aect ecame the oat Commander another er ta and accomished t arroant ent ecame he Manifcent. e was a enine fnn man. his is a setch on, and it ecdes or eic frst meetin, which asted from 00 .m. to 200 a.m. t cannot cose withot notin Waters dee satisfaction at receiin the Cde . i ifetime Achieement Award at the Wade, and m own at ein resent. e did indeed fht the ood fht, fnish the corse, and ee the faith. ow ma Water rest in eace, t ssect he is either rewin a ot of tea to share with his reat friend or, more roa, writin et another entr in his diar. James Como Founding member The new York C.s. Lewis soCieTY VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center, Vol. 37 (2020) A Shared Dedication to Owen Barfeld Remembering Walter Hooper (1931 - 2020) I have a strong, if random, memory of Walter when we met by chance while I was on honeymoon near the cathedral of Orvieto, in Italy. It was the Feast of Corpus Christi and the entire city was dressed in medieval pageantry. Walter was his usual self—busy, passionate, full of anecdotes—and I was able to intro- duce him to my wife. For some reason, it is this image of suddenly coming across Walter in Italy that springs to mind just now, as oosed to m isits to his at in Oxford for tea. In a way, this occa- sion was characteristic of my family’s relationship with Walter; our paths were always interlinked in some way. We could go for lengthy periods without the wen arfed iterar Estate. sed with ermission from commnicatin and then, at sinifcant Walter Hooper, Oxford c. 1985 moments, there he was. sed with ermission from the wen arfed iterar Estate. sed with ermission from Walter Hooper, contracted to the C.S. Lewis Company, with Owen Barfeld, retired Lewis Trustee, 19 November, 1985. VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center, Vol. 37 (2020) e126 A Shared Dedication: Remembering Walter Hooper (1931–2020) e127 randfather was C.. ewiss literary trustee, and he and Walter collaborated for over thirty years. Owen was a great supporter of Walter’s and later appointed him as a co-trustee of the estate. Walter was at Grandfather’s bedside when he passed. And it was thanks to Water that the wen arfed collection (all 33 linear metres of it!) was deposited at the Bodleian sed with ermission from the wen arfed iterar Estate. sed with ermission from irar in ford. e ersona Owen Barfeld as literary trustee of the handled the hundreds of letters C.S. Lewis Estate, Walter Hooper as ad- written by schoolchildren to my ministrator, speaking to Cecil Harwood ant, c, ecase of ewiss the other literary trustee, c. 1975. dedication in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. n cs ehaf, Grandfather asked Walter to reply, “What I could not do for myself, the dedication did for me. My Godfather gave me a greater gift than I had imagined.” Water was a trstee of the wen arfed iterar Estate for a decade before handing that role over to me. Grandfather valued Walter’s lifelong service and dedication, and we remember him with gratitude. Owen A. BArfield GrAndsOn Of Owen BArfield TrusTee Of The Owen BArfield liTerAry esTATe VII: Journal of the Marion E. Wade Center, Vol. 37 (2020) In the Service of Another Remembering Walter Hooper (1931 - 2020) frst met Water ooer when was a stdent at ford in the ear 990s and oined the niersits C.. ewis ociet, which met wee in se ose, st a few stes from the Eae and Chid. hose were maica eenins, with ecetiona est seaers who sared ie diaoe, friend disareements, and often a ood dea of ahter. n his ind, conenia wa, Water was awas somewhere near the center of the conersation. With his remarae nowede of ewiss ife and wor, Water awas had a tein anecdote read to mind, or a assae to share from ewiss writins that wod reinforce a oint someone ese had made or erhas ent chaene a ine of thoht roidin deeer insiht. he essentia contritions that Water made to the ford niersit C.. ewis ociet eemif the remarae contrition he has made to the endrin wordwide inence of C.. ewis. he chrchs reatest writers and thiners hae neer done their wor aone, t awas with the sort, the friendshi, and often the sacrifcia serice of rothers and sisters who reconied the sinifcance of their wor and fond their own cain in casin others to increase. or more than haf a centr, Water sered as a faithf rother in Christ to C.. ewis and a deoted serant of od. A distinished schoar in his own riht, Water stdied ewiss etters, traced down his essas, reised foot- notes, and wrote interretie comments with the constant oa of aowin the Christian messae of C.. ewis to hae its f, diine intended inence in the word. see Waters wor as a rime eame of the commnion of the saints, which eer Christian hods as a matter of ractica doctrine.

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