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A New Wade Center in 2000

The Lewis Legacy-Issue 84, Spring 2000 The C.S. Lewis Foundation for Truth in Publishing

The following announcement from the new issue of the journal Seven reveals the identity of a key member of the anonymous steering commitee that controls policy and decisions of the Wade Center.

The Marion E Wade Center is pleased to announce plans to construct a new Wade Center facility on the campus of Wheaton, College in Illinois. The proposed site of the new building is on the College’s northwest border, adjacent to Edman Chapel and one door away from the home where Clyde S Kilby, Wade Center founder lived with his wife Martha, for more than four decades.

The new facility will feature an expanded reading room with fireplace and glass-front bookcases as well as an audio-visual center for the benefit of researchers. In addition, an enhanced museum, classroom and seminar room will allow the Wade Center to better serve the educational needs of the thousands of visitors who tour the Center each year.
An important focal point of the new Wade Center’s exterior will be a perenial garden presented in the English style, complete with reading benches, walkways and a low garden wall. An avid gardener, Dr Kilby would have particularly delighted in this aspect of the building’s design.

It is anticipated that ground-breaking for the new facility will occur in the Spring of 2000, with completion of the building to be accomplished by autumn. Currently the Wade Center is housed in the Nicholas Wing of the undergraduate library of the College.

The benefactor of this historic event in the thirty-four year history of the Wade Center is Ms Mary Wade, a long-standing member of the Wade Center’s Steering Committee and the daughter of Mr Marion E Wade in whose honor the Center is named. An additional gift from an anonymous donor has allowed various enhancements to the original plans.

It was rumored long ago that part of the Wade family felt protective of Walter Hooper. That is definitely true of steering committtee members Jerry Root and Luci Saw, who actively oppose the Lindskoog position.