Joy Davidman - Wife of C.S. Lewis

Helen Joy Davidman Gresham Lewis (1915-1960) was a highly respected poet before she met C.S. Lewis.  She won the Yale Younger Poets Series Award, a highly coveted honor, for "Letter to a Comrade," her 1938 collection.  The following year, she shared the Loines Memorial Fund award with Robert Frost - one of America's most beloved poets.

Extremely intelligent, Joy had a photographic memory.  Her brother, Dr. Howard Davidman, once recalled that if his sister read a page of Shakespeare, she could have it memorized. 

At 14, she commenced her studies at Hunter College.  She graduated when she was 19 and, three semesters later, she had a master's degree, with honors, from Columbia University.

Following her divorce from the writer William Gresham, Joy married C.S. Lewis.  Warnie Lewis wrote about his brother's affection for Joy:

For Jack the attraction was at first undoubtedly intellectual. Joy was the only woman whom he had met ... who had a brain which matched his own in suppleness, in width of interest, and in analytical grasp, and above all in humour and a sense of fun.

Their marriage, unfortunately, was short-lived.  Joy died of cancer in 1960.