Restaurateur Marie Callender 1995 Crystal Cathedral Cemetery

Marie Callender (March 26, 1907 - November 11, 1995), entrepreneur and restaurateur, is inurned at the former Crystal Cathedral Cemetery, now called the Cathedral Memorial Gardens.

Entrepreneur. South Dakota native Marie Callender, literally embraced the old axiom, "Life begins at forty." In 1948, her family grown and with their help, sold her new car and used the money as operating capitol. With her son Don, spearheading the venture, rented a small World War II army Quonset hut in Long Beach, California, purchased a baking oven, refrigerator and a few implements and named the venture after his mother, "Marie Callender Pies." With Marie's recipes and guidance, the family began baking pies to be sold to area restaurants. A converted 1936 ford sedan was used to make deliveries. Two years later, from an initial order of ten pies, the family was making 200 a day. Fifteen years later, they went solo with the opening of an outlet in Orange called the Marie Callender Pie Shop. At first, only pies were served, mainly take out, but gradually it became a full fledged restaurant and pies shared the spotlight with Cornbread. Other locations were added around Southern California and their standard restaurants featured a fully stocked bar called a saloon and also a complete soup-salad bar. The interiors of the now chain of restaurants were decorated with antiques had a decorating decor reminiscent of Victorian England as well as early America. Marie retired, lived in Laguna Hills where she died from cancer at age 87. She was cremated and a memorial service was held at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove. Her urn rests in a niche in the Columbarium Room located on the church grounds. Legacy... The family owned Marie Callender chain was sold to a giant food corporation and today consist of some 160 restaurants located in the western United States and Mexico. They are still known as "Marie Callender's Pies" and still the signature item served is the created from scratch pie, originated by Marie. Marie Callender's also markets a line of frozen foods found in super markets across the country.

-- Find A Grave bio by Donald Greyfield