Originally from Illinois, Mary Pfeiff Cornelius and her husband Mike transplanted their family to Arizona in 1994. Before retiring, Mary enjoyed a career in Speech-Language Pathology and a longer run as a director of church music. She taught piano privately during many of those years. Stretching herself, she now plays with a rock trio.

Mary has two adult children and two young grandchildren in Chicago. She and her husband share their home in Peoria with another daughter and two teenage grandsons. Based on her experience as an aging woman living in a multi-generational household, she blogs at corneliusblogs.com (https://www.corneliusblogs.com/) and published the short book, “Shared Space: A Practical Guide to Multi-Family Living” (https://www.amazon.com/Shared-Space-Practical-Multi-Family-Living/dp/B0C7T5N3T7). She has had short works published in anthologies and is an active member of Central Phoenix Shut Up and Write and organizes events for Phoenix Oasis Press: (https://www.phoenixoasispress.com/.