OUR HISTORY
A Brief History of the New York C.S. Lewis Society
presented at Taylor University by Robert Trexler (June 2014)
CLICK ON LINK ABOVE TO READ
New York
C.S. Lewis Society Charter
Accepted on a motion put to the meeting of December 12, 1969, as amended on May 25, 1970.)
We, the founding members of the New York C.S. Lewis Society, have as our purposes:
(1) To bring together those in the local area who share for C.S. Lewis, among all authors, a special admiration and affection and an active interest, which have been tried by time, and will persist;
(2) To meet, and to consider all aspects of the life and work of this rare man, and any matters on which his thought may shed light;
(3) To assemble and keep a repository of short writings by and about C.S. Lewis, not collected into book form; to help as we may toward an eventual definitive edition of the writings of C.S. Lewis; to encourage scholarship and publication stemming from his writings;
(4) To establish and maintain contact with others throughout the world who share our active interest in C.S. Lewis;
(5) To make discreet overtures to persons not familiar with the writings of C.S. Lewis, but who are clearly afoot on their life's pilgrimage and who may have - even unaware - an affinity for the Christian Spirit that he represents, and to whom his writings may prove, as to us, welcome guides.
Elaine Boies
Byron C. Lambert
Jack Boies
Sharon Lambert
Alexandra Como
Susan Larkin
James Como
William Linden
William Graham Dawson
Eugene McGovern
Berniece Hess
Henry Noel
Richard Hodgens
Ronald Sassieault
Hope Kirkpatrick: A Tribute
(by James Tetreault)
Hope Kirkpatrick told me one evening that she had grown up just down the street from where we are now (West 12th Street, NYC). She was a young singer of German Lieder when she married the pianist John Kirkpatrick. John was the champion of new American music, especially that of Charles Ives. He joined the music faculty at Cornell University in 1946, and then in 1968 went to Yale University where he served as curator of the Charles Ives archive.
The Kirkpatricks were stalwarts of our Society from the very beginning in 1969. They would motor in from New Haven, CT. Hope almost always, John often. Bulletin #265 is a memorial to John Kirkpatrick, who died in November 1991. Hope wrote to me, "John's end was peaceful. I hope to follow him soon." She died fifteen months later in February 1993.
For the first twenty years of the Society Hope served as secretary and treasurer, a service that receives its just recognition in the tribute to her that Gene McGovern published in Bulletin #245. She sent letters all over the world, always, as many of us know, sprinkled with friendly personal messages.
After Hope retired as secretary/treasurer, Clara Sarrocco continued with these duties - now serving in that position for over 30 years!
She handles all correspondence, bookkeeping, recordkeeping and has arranged special events.
Clara Sarrocco with Cardinal Avery Dulles
at a special 35th anniversary lecture
sponsored by our Society at
Fordham University, NYC - Nov. 2004
Mary Gehringer and Clara Sarrocco have been pillars of the Society for decades - preparing our meeting place, providing refreshments, registering attendees for conferences, etc. etc.
Mary schedules monthly speakers,
maintains our mailing list,
and proofreads the CSL Bulletin.
Jack Haynes (1919-2006) recorded our meetings for over 25 years. Almost every month, he hauled his audio equipment to Manhattan. Fifteen recordings of our meetings, ranging from 1977 to 1984, are now preserved in The Marion E. Wade Center at Wheaton College.
Byron Lambert (1923 - 2004)
Founding Member
In the beginning . . . were Byron and Phyllis Lambert, Society godparents if ever there were. The story of Phyllis' successful effort to save the Society in its infancy is known by few and will likely remain that way: but her and Byron's role as our hosts and guiding lights are the stuff of legend.
On March 16 Byron died, and our prayers are directed heavenward for him, and for Phyllis, and for their daughter Sharon. My own have a particular xxxx, for to a very young academic there was no more concrete and influential model of the Gentleman Christian Scholar than Dean Lambert. (Decades ago Byron compelled me to a first-name basis, but he was always, and remains, Dean Lambert to me, to the woeful disadvantage of every dean I have since known and have measured by his standard.)
Byron's intellectual presence was formidable, but more commanding still were his equanimity and generosity of spirit. In 1998, he was presented with the James A. Garfield Award, the highest citation bestowed by the Emmanuel School of Religion. In presenting the award it was said, "In his capacities as scholar, teacher, lecturer, and zealot for Christian unity, Dr. Lambert is one of the most gifted intellectual thinkers of his generation." May he see the Glory he worshipped and so the peace he so dearly deserves. --- James Como.