The Scripture Press Story/continued
After a stint with the Taber nacle Company Cory became assis tant manager to William Norton of Moody Press (then the Bible Insti tute Colportage Association). He was with Moody until his job was done away with at the depth of the depression. It was at Moody that Cory got the idea for starting a Sunday school publishing business. Eunice Fischer had graduated from Moody and was then a director of Chris tian education in a nearby church. She wrote to the school for help in finding adequate lesson material. She candidly suggested that the school practice what it preached and start printing lessons that would be really Bible-centered. MBI President Gray took her suggestion seriously and turned it over to Clarence H. Benson of their Christian Education Dept. Dr. Ben son was thrilled. “ I already have the lessons,” he said. “ M y curricu lum classes have worked on them for eight years. They are all ready to publish.” But the idea didn’t appeal to Press Manager Norton. The depres sion was on and he wasn’t sure they’d find many customers for a new type of Sunday school lesson. Cory heard about the tabled plans and hurried to Dr. Benson. Dr. Benson agreed Cory could have the lessons if he could get adequate financing. William R. Thomas was vice-president of the Geographical Publishing Company and a friend of Victor Cory. When Cory told Thomas about the Sunday school publishing venture he immediately offered to finance the work. The way it turned out the Corys were able to repay the loan with interest in an amazingly short time. At first Mrs. Cory had no idea of working with her husband. She was fairly well occupied with four sons and a rambling nine-room home to care for. But they soon realized the lessons turned out by
Dr. Benson and his students needed editing and Mrs. Cory was the only one available. They hired a housekeeper for $5 a week and Mrs. Cory plunged into the work on a full-time basis. They worked far into the night and often were so weary they’d chew crackers to keep awake. After a few weeks of editing Mrs. Cory asked her husband, “ Are these les sons supposed to be only for Pres byterians?” Victor had a faint smile on his lips. “ No, any group,” he said. His wife pointed to paragraphs in a half dozen lessons. “ Well, I don’t think it’s the thing to have the Westminster C a t e c h i sm in every lesson.” Cory knew then that he had found the right person to perma nently edit the newly organized Scripture Press material. Mrs. Cory not only proved she had an eye to spot weak spots in the material but she barged into the somewhat com plicated art of copy fitting and page layout with an ease that amazed their printer. When she couldn’t solve a problem by the accepted journalistic method she’d resort to algebra. The Corys still laugh when they recall an incident in the early days with their printer, Standard Pub l i s h i n g C o m p a n y of Cincinnati (Scripture Press owns no printing equipment). Standard appreciated the new Chicago account and gen erously let the Corys use art work from their own fine of Sunday school materials. One day some ex ecutives from Standard were in Chicago for a business meeting and decided to pay a courtesy call on their new client, Scripture Press. The Corys business was then lodged in one room of a rooming house at 741 N. LaSalle St. Cory was lean ing out the window when the taxi stopped with the Standard men. “ You should have seen their faces,” Cory recalls. “ They natu
rally were looking for a fair-sized business building. The took out a paper and double checked the ad dress. I waved to them and asked who they were looking for.” “ Must be some mistake,” one of the men called up to Cory. “ W e’re looking for a business establish ment — Scripture Press.” When the men got up to the tiny (10% x 11 foot) room that housed their new Chicago account they just stood in the door and laughed. “ The whole scene was so ridicu lous,” says Cory “ that it’s been a joke ever since.” But Standard stayed by the struggling new account from Chi cago. And it wasn’t long until Scripture Press was on its way to its present success. The Corys later moved the business to North Clark where they took over two-and-one- half floors plus the entire basement. From there they moved to North Wabash where they had a total of six floors on both sides of the street. And within the past few months Scripture Press has moved to its own big new building in suburban Wheaton. It’s been a short 24 years for the Corys. Their boys are grown (the oldest a department head at Scrip ture Press). M r s . C o r y i s s t i l l editor-in-chief. Victor Cory still carries a work-horse load o f 12 to 14 hours a day. Nothing gets by without his approval. When Bob Cook (long-time president of Youth for Christ International) j o i ned Scripture Press last year as vice- president and manager of distribu tion, he was amazed at the detailed interest Cory takes in every phase of the work. “ He,” says Cook, “ even comments in detail on all the reports I turn in.” For an electrical engineer and a housewife, it would seem the Corys have done a more than average job of letting the Lord use them to build a great Sunday school pub lishing enterprise.
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