Services slated Monday for ex-college archivist

As an archivist, Ruth James Cording lovingly cared for books.

Given the chance to look after the letters and other materials of famed author C.S. Lewis, she took to her task with dedication.

Cording worked at Wheaton College in the 1960s when English professor Clyde Kilby began the serious task of setting up what would become the internationally recognized Marion E. Wade collection.

She returned part-time in the 1980s to continue working on the collection that includes Lewis and six other British authors who influenced him.

Cording, 96, died on May 5 in Escondido, Calif., where she'd most recently lived. She called Wheaton home for 76 years.

"She loved books, loved people, loved hospitality and inviting people into her home," recalled friend Marjorie Mead, associate director of the Wade center.

Working with the materials also gave her a strong interest in writing herself.

She authored "C.S. Lewis, A Celebration of His Early Life" in 2000, which followed "The Joy of Remembering Our Guests" (1982) and "The Joy of Remembering Our Children" (1984).

Mead said Cording was especially fond of her Welsh heritage and amassed quite a collection of literature and historical materials. In 1993, Wheaton College opened the Ruth James Cording Welsh Language and Literature Collection of the Wheaton College Archives and Special Collections with the items she'd gathered.

Cording graduated from Wheaton College with a bachelor's degree in literature in 1933 and married Edward A. Cording July 23, 1935. Her husband of 62 years was executive director of the Conservatory of Music at Wheaton College from 1948 to 1970, professor emeritus and also worked with the Evangelical Alliance Mission from 1971 to 1990. He died on Aug. 12, 1997.

A memorial service for Cording will be held at 3 p.m. Monday at Wheaton Bible Church at Main and Franklin streets in Wheaton. Interment will be private in Wheaton Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be directed to Wheaton College, designating the Edward A. Cording Scholarship Fund.