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Note: Mary moved to Kansas from New Berlin, Illinois with her parents in 1878. Later Bernard Cordes came to work for the family and they were married. They farmed in Aleppo near the Klausmeyer farm. Her sister Anna (Mrs. Joe Linnebur) lived close by and when she died shortly after giving birth to her daughter Coleta, Mary took in the baby until her father remarried. She was a midwife and nursed many families when illness struck. During the flu epidemic of 1918 she would stay with families who needed her to nurse them back to health. She had a good knowledge of herbs and collected them to use for healing. Both Rose and Dad spoke of going with her to gather sassafras and other herbs and of the herbs she raised in her garden for medicinal purposes.
In the spring of 1924 there was a breakout of smallpox and both she and Rose became ill. They were quarantined in their home and recovered. The remainder of the family stayed in the outbuildings in the meantime.
According to her granddaughter Alice Cordes Vierthaler, she was also a good cook, especially known for serving good meals to the workers at harvest time. She raised sheep and spun the wool for knitting, Dad spoke of her spinning wheel which sat by the door. Rose and Dad spoke of stripping goose and duck feathers in the evenings to make feathers to sell to Wichita hotels for pillows and comforters. She also sold chicken and duck meat to the hotels.
According to Rose, when Mary Frances received her inheritance at her mother's death, she invested it in local businesses, including a car dealership. When the dealership went bankrupt during the depression, she gained an automobile and learned to drive. She enjoyed driving to Wichita to visit her daughters who lived there, especially Mary, who was afflicted with polio.
Her daughter Mary Sommerhauser died in 1929 leaving 3 small children. The two older, Virginia and William Jr. were both handicapped children, possibly Down Syndrome, and Mary and Ben took them in; the infant David was taken in by the paternal grandmother. Mary was already 61 years of age and and, according to her son Ben, was unable to keep up with them and keep them out of the dangers that are so prevalent at a farm. Their father eventually placed them in State Home in Winfield, KS.
According to her granddaughter Katherine Becker Winter, she was a warm and wonderful person, who enjoyed growing flowers in beds around the house. Mary Elaine Conrad remembers Easter Egg hunts in the Cordes yard. Unfortunately, in her last years she developed dementia, possibly Alzheimer's disease. Her daughter Anna and husband moved into the farm home after Bernard died and took care of her until her death. They were assisted by Jack and Angela Schild, who moved in 1943 into the small home built by Ben and Dorothy Cordes.
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