C.S. Lewis married the American poet Joy Davidman in 1956. Her full name was Helen Joy Davidman, and she was also known as Joy Gresham after an earlier marriage.
Lewis and Davidman first met in person in 1952 after corresponding for several years. Their relationship developed into a close partnership, and they married in a civil ceremony at Oxford Register Office on 23 April 1956.
Davidman was diagnosed with bone cancer shortly after their marriage. Lewis later described their relationship and grief in A Grief Observed, published in 1961 under the pseudonym N.W. Clerk.
Some accounts use Gresham because Davidman had previously been married to William Lindsay Gresham. The surname requested here is Davidman, the family name associated with Joy’s birth and literary identity.