Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Winter 2015 | Page 30

28   

W I N T ER  

2015

CREDIT: darcy WEIR

Over time, Miriam
felt compelled to find out
everything she could about
Lilias Trotter, and to make her
work known to others. She
initially hoped to encourage
publishers to simply reprint
some of the books and
pamphlets Lilias had written
over the course of her career—including her classic devotional, Parables of
the Cross, and The Sevenfold Secret, still used today for outreach to Muslims.
Miriam’s plans changed dramatically, however, after talking with
Marjorie Lamp Mead ’74, M.A. ’06 and Dr. Lyle Dorsett hon, associate
director and then director, respectively, of Wheaton’s Wade Center.
When Miriam summarized Lilias’ story for Dr. Dorsett, “He jumped
up and said, ‘She’s exactly what North Wind Press is all about—in fact,
she may even be the reason for North Wind Press.’” First, however,
he believed a biography needed to be written, and he and Marjorie
encouraged Miriam to take up the task.
Though already the author of three books about home and family,
Miriam was daunted by the thought of writing a biography, but with
the publisher already in place, she forged ahead. She spent eight months
transcribing Lilias’ journals, often working late into the night. She
remembers becoming so immersed in her work, her husband Dr. David
Rockness ’65 once commented, “At times I’m not sure who I’m living
with—Miriam or Lilias.”
Miriam also spent several years researching, writing, and sleuthing,
using a vacation to England as an opportunity to uncover more details.
She writes, “Map in hand, I roamed London’s West End, searching out
her early homes and haunts. Curator in tow, I hunted down the paintings
Ruskin had given to the Ashmolean Museum, and in a stroke of luck,
I came upon her grandnephew in Surrey, who showed me, among other
treasures, the very sketchbook that Lilias had produced under Ruskin’s
guidance in Venice.”
After completing the
biography, which Dr.
David Lundy calls “a
‘must-read’ for all those
serving our Savior in the
Arab world,” Miriam
next compiled a second
book, A Blossom in the
Desert (Discovery House
Publishers, 2007), featuring
Lilias’ reflections and art.
While she had also
dreamed of a film, it probably never would have become reality had not
Miriam met Sally and Brian Oxley through a mutual friend. When she
told them Lilias’ story, they felt it had cinematic power, and later saw in it

Top: Miriam Huffman Rockness ’65, author of A Passion for the Impossible,
says the book “never would have been written” if it weren’t for encouragement and
help from staff at Wheaton’s Wade Center.
Below: Brian ’73, M.A. ’75 and Sally Phillips Oxley ’74 joined Academy
Award winning director Laura Waters Hinson and the rest of the film crew in
New York City to work on the documentary Many Beautiful Things, set to be
released in spring 2015.

the makings of their second documentary project. Both Brian and Sally
are interested in film—for the powerful way it can portray the lives of
Christians past, reaching large audiences for the gospel.
“Lilias’ story is a wonderful vehicle for getting the love of Christ to as
many people as possible,” Brian says.
They encouraged Miriam to set up a board to help her choose a
filmmaker and promote Lilias’ story. This board of women includes
the Wade Center’s Marjorie Mead ’74, Carol Holquist, Sally Oxley ’74,
and Miriam’s friend, Bonnie Camp Palmquist ’65, who along with
her husband, Norm ’65, devoted 15 years of her life to ministry in
Lebanon and Jordan. Each member of the board brings her own unique
perspective to the project.
Bonnie says, “My deepest desire for the film would be that people
would catch a bit of her heart for our Muslim brothers and sisters,
especially in this day when there is so much fear and distrust for Arabs
and the Middle East.”
Miriam, meanwhile, believes that Lilias, a unique combination of