Louise Jane Corn was born September 28, 1871 at Hiwassi, Georgia, and departed this life March 9, 1950 at Shattuck, Oklahoma, at the age of 78 years, 5 months and 9 days.
In 1892 she moved with her parents to Tahlequah, Indian Territory. On February 5, 1893 she was united in marriage with Jesse C. Cordell. To this union thirteen children were born. The husband and two of the children preceded her in death. Seven sons and four daughters survive. They are, Pearl Chastain, Woodward, Oklahoma; Mary Turner, Oregon City, Oregon; George Cordell, Shattuck, Oklahoma; Bill Cordell, Mineral Wells, Texas; Gussie Ruppert, Wapakaneta, Ohio; Ed Cordell, Gage, Oklahoma; Fred Cordell, Cheyenne, Oklahoma; Roy Cordell, San Diego, California; Rolla Cordell, Norfolk, Virginia; Dick Cordell, Alameda, California; and Ruth Thrasher, of Durham, Oklahoma.
Three brothers also survive. They are John Corn, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Juan Corn, Chetopa, Kansas; and Jule Corn, Clinton, Oklahoma, 29 grandchildren and 16 great grandchildren also survive, besides a host of other relatives.
Mrs. Cordell came with her husband and children to Durham, Oklahoma in 1904 where they homesteaded a farm adjoining Durham and upon which Mrs. Cordell resided until her death.
Mrs. Cordell braved all of the hardships that beset mothers in pioneer days. It was her lot to help build the first school districts and establish the early day church, and otherwise to assist in developing Roger Mills county into the modern era of progress it now enjoys.
Mrs. Cordell beccame a Christian when a girl and was baptized into the Baptist church in her community. In 1935 she became a member of the Baptist church of Curham and remained a faithful member until her passing.
Great honor and distinction came to Mrs. Cordell in 1942 when she was privileged to christen the ship USS Choctaw in honor of her three sons who were survivors of the illfated Lexington, which sunk in the early years of World War II.
Mrs. Cordell made history in the christening because she used water instead of champagne to christen the ship. Carrying with her a bottle of water from the well on her Durham homestead Mrs. Cordell stated "that the water that her boys drank as they grew to manhood was good enough to christen a ship in their honor."
Another distinction came to Mrs. Cordell when a national radio broadcast united with her three Navy sons in a surprise pre-arranged meeting in Radio City, New York.
She took great pride in her family, she was proud of the education they acquired, proud of the fact that four of her sons served in the Navy, and proud that she reared eleven children.
Mrs. Cordell was an unassuming sort of person, but one who was quick to speak up for what she thought was right. Her influence on her family, her community and the nation will live on.
Funeral services for Mrs. Cordell were conducted Tuesday afternoon in the Durham school auditorium, with Rev. Sanfrod Cole delivering the sermon. Interment was in the Fairview cemetery, Durham, Roger Mills County, Oklahoma under the direction of the Scroggins Funeral Home of Cheyenne.
Among the hundreds of people present for the funeral were those from Elk City, Shattuck, Pampa, Texas, Woodward, Clinton and all parts of Roger Mills County.