by carol » June 4th, 2006, 6:35 am
Reep, I'm going to have to give you a less helpful answer than I expected. I have found the entry from Paul F. Ford's book, but having looked right through my copy of "Past Watchful Dragons" (paperback, Fount, 1980), I have not found any information there about Lucy Barfield. Your information (links quoted in your post that begins this thread) is probably the most complete available.
I've come to an important personal conclusion and would respectfully suggest this to other inquirers:
I think that we must accept that Miss Barfield (Mrs Rake) was a private person who lived a quiet life, and little was written about her. Why should we question that? This lady had a debilitating condition for most of her life, and relied on other people for many things. Let's not complain because her life has remained private; she blessed those who she knew, and gave her name to one of our favourite characters. Why should we expect to find lots of information about her on the Internet? - Carol
However, here is the text from Paul Ford:
DEDICATIONS, DEDICATEE(S)
Lewis’s particular affection for the children of some of his dear friends is the source of the dedications of the first six chronicles (LB has no dedication).
LWW is dedicated to Lucy Barfield (1935-2003), Lewis’s god-daughter and the adopted daughter of Owen and Maud Barfield, who was four when Lewis began to write the book and thirteen when he resumed and finished it. Lucy loved music and ballet and eventually taught music. In 1966 she was diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis. She married Bevan Rake and lived happily, although she was often hospitalised. When her husband died in 1990, her health deteriorated; she lived in the hospital for the rest of her life. During that time, she told Walter Hooper how much the dedication meant to her: “What I could not do for myself, the dedication did for me. My godfather gave me a greater gift than he could have imagined.”
Hooper wrote: As every creature comfort was taken from her, and she had lost her sight, Lucy’s faith in God grew and blessed not only her, but also those who knew her. Owen Barfield, touched by her humility, said many times, “I could go down on my knees before my daughter.” During the last seven years of her life in the Royal Hospital for Neurodisability in London, her brother Jeffrey - to whom Lewis dedicated the Voyage of the “Dawn Treader” - read her the Chronicles of Narnia.
[Paul F. Ford, Companion to Narnia, Fifth Edition, 2005, p 160.]