In Praise of Walter Hooper

So, today came the sad news that Walter Hooper, for many years the literary editor of the C. S. Lewis estate, has died. 

He led a good long life  --he was just a little shy of ninety-- and was one of those people whose work is also their advocation. 

No other single person had a greater effect on Lewis's posthumous publications, many of which Hooper edited. 

His passing marks a milestone, another loss in a year of losses. 

Here's a little poem I wrote in his honor several years back (2008) when he was given an lifetime achievement award by the Wade Center:

How pleasant to meet Walter Hooper

Whose editing work has been super

-lative. Eight thousand pages

Of the Magdalen sage's

Thoughts on paper, now preserved for the ages.

 

But oh how pleasant to sit over tea

And talk of good books and of good company

He, with his "soft-spoken Southern courtesy"†

And I, with ears wide open.

 

--JDR 

†the phrase is Tolkien's