Mary M. Corder

Born on June 3, 1938.

Passed away on July 4, 2023.

Born to John and Marguerite Flaherty of Elgin, Nebraska. Graduated from St. Elizabeth’s School of Nursing,1959 in Lincoln, Nebraska. Married to Hugh Heydt 1960. To this union were born 5 children. Graduated from Doane College 1986, BA degree in Allied Health. Married to Craig Corder in 1992.

She is survived by her husband Craig; her children, Jim (Sheila) Heydt, Paul, Ann, Sue and Joe (Marni), and Mitch (Jamie) Corder; five grandchildren, Rose (Alex) Marantz, Harlee (Caiden) Crouch, Al Corder, Tavin, and Julian; and one great grandchild, Pearl Marantz.

Our Mom and friend has come to the end of her wonderful life. We are sad she is gone but we are celebrating how she lived, how she will always be with us in our hearts, and how our lives are better because of hers.

If you knew Mary (Heydt) Corder, you know she loved being a nurse. She started at age 18 and continued being a caring nurse to the end. She was many kinds of nurses from head to toe. Starting at the top, she was a pretty good shrink about life. She worked in the emergency room, in a chemical dependency unit, stroke/brain trauma rehab, home health and hospice nurse, and finally as a foot specialist. She started a foot care company called “Feet First” and loved taking care of feet for those who could not care for their own. As she said, “I never met a foot I didn’t like”.

To her kids she was the best butterfly Band-Aid maker ever and she got a lot of practice with us. She loved her children and grandchildren and we all knew it. She disliked cooking and we all knew it. That might be why all her kids are pretty good cooks, so thanks for that Mom. Everyday she read the newspaper cover to cover so she knew when our friends, teachers, neighbors, coaches, bosses, ex’s, etc. graduated, got married, bought houses, had kids, got new jobs, and/or died. Mary loved to travel and those experiences made her smile. Sometimes it meant driving to Alvo, Nebraska to see a county gym turned into a house and sometimes it meant traveling with her daughters to Europe. No matter where she went, the adventure is what she liked. She loved reading the local paper, meeting new people, partaking in local community events, and trying new restaurants as long as she did not have to try any new foods.

Those trips would create late nights and often times those late nights would put Mom in a mood where she would giggle so hard she could hardly breath. It was extremely funny when she was that way. Made us all giggle, too. Mary was a happy person and always enjoyed learning new things from her kids and grandkids. She was open minded but not swayed often from her opinion.

We asked her three years too late to zip line and 10 years too late to skydive. Otherwise, she would’ve been doing it with us. She had the most used library card you will ever see. Sometimes she would read a book a day. Mary loved art no matter if she was the artist, or her kids/grandkids, or anyone. As long as it was unique she loved it. She often gave art as gifts.

Her classic artsy interior design advice was infamous as she would share this unique perspective with friends, family, and strangers. She would simply evaluate the space and design challenge and say, “Oh, why don’t you paint that to match, or mount that on the wall upside down, or suspend that from the ceiling, or paint stripes on the sculpture, etc.” You would say, “No, not for me but you can do that at your house.” And she would end the discussion by saying, “Craig would never let me do that.” But in almost all cases Craig would have let her do whatever she wanted with art in their home… and she did. LOL.

She was friends with her kid’s best friends and often went to lunch or spoke with those friends on the phone and covered subjects having nothing to do with her kids. She was Irish and proud. Always made us wear green to school on St. Pat’s Day so we would not get pinched. I think we all still wear green every St. Pat’s Day because we love her and that tradition.

She loved Birkenstocks and fashion (yes, written in the same sentence). She would buy earrings and then an entire outfit of dress, shoes, necklace, and watch to match. She made her own cremation box and it includes the Birkenstock print on the bottom. She even made two extra cremation boxes and I’m sure Craig will use one, but the third box will be up for grabs with her family and close friends…after all, it’s a Mary Corder original.

On that note, I know our Mom would want you to know she considered it a pleasure being with all the people she knew. She is sorry to leave us but was ready to go and she looks forward to seeing you all when the time comes. We know she’s smiling and giggling that late-night giggle now as she’s with her Mom and Dad and so many others she’s missed.

Services will be held at St. Patrick’s Church, 6111 Morrill Ave. Lincoln, NE 68507. Rosary: Friday 07.28.23 at 7:00PM, Memorial Mass and social gathering: Saturday 07.29.23 at 10:00AM. In lieu of flowers, Mary asked that you send flowers to someone living that you love.