Originally from Illinois, Mary Pfeiff Cornelius and her husband, Mike, transplanted their family to Arizona in 1994. As a student, she loved writing, but practical, depression-era parents discouraged her from pursuing it as a career. She taught piano privately for many years before earning a master’s degree qualifying her in Speech-Language Pathology. After 20 years, primarily in the medical field, and a longer run as a director of church music, she retired and is enjoying music on her own time, and writing.
Mary has two adult children and two young grandchildren in Chicago. She and her husband share their home in Peoria with another daughter and emerging-adult grandsons.
Based on her experience as an aging woman living in a multi-generational household, she blogs on Cornelius Blogs and published the short book, “Shared Space: A Practical Guide to Multi-Family Living” She has had short works published in anthologies and is an active member of Central Phoenix Shut Up and Write and Phoenix Oasis Press. Her current major project is a memoir, but she submits to literary journals and is happy to receive positive rejections.
Published work:
- Roots, Shoots & Blooms, Inkwell Anthology 2022
- “Deadheading Life”
- “Alive”
- Round Table Literary Journal, Volume 56, Spring 2022
- “The Discomfort of Woke”
- Shared Space: A Practical Guide to Multi-Family Living Booklet, 2023
- Beyond Boundaries: Tales of Transcendence, Phoenix Oasis Press 2023
- “Katie-May Does Merced”
- “Big Sky”
