Mary Borges Tavares Cordeiro

On June 29, 2016 Mary Cordeiro passed away peacefully in her home. Born on January 21, 1928, Mary was raised in Fall River, Massachusetts. She was the youngest of six children of Antonio and Maria Tavares, Portuguese immigrants from the Azores Islands.

Mary graduated from B.M.C Durfee High School in Fall River, class of 1946, having been voted “Best Looking” by her senior classmates. She met and eventually married her high school sweetheart, Manuel (Manny) A. Cordeiro, also of Fall River. They wed on August 5, 1950 in Fall River. They spent their honeymoon traveling across the United States via Route 66 to California where they started a new life in a booming post-war economy. After living in Long Beach for a number of years they and their three small children relocated to Woodland Hills, a suburb of Los Angeles.

Manny was a successful steel salesman. Mary worked hard making a loving and warm home for her family and also working part-time in home décor. Mary and Manny shared a deep love for each other and for their children, Chris, Paul and Connie. There were many happy times as their children grew and succeeded.

When Manny retired, he and Mary would frequently travel to their beach house to enjoy time together…always each other’s best friend and companion. They often shared their home with their eight grandchildren who gave them great happiness.

After moving to Thousand Oaks, Mary gave 27 years of volunteer service to Los Robles Hospital. She was a welcoming face to hundreds of families who came in to see their loved ones.

Mary delighted in sharing her Portuguese ancestry with everyone she met. She was quite the conversationalist! Mary loved politics and enjoyed having political discussions with her many friends and family. She also loved following high school and college sports. She was a big fan of the UCLA Bruins, Stanford Cardinal, and recently the Duke Blue Devils where her grandson, Nick, was attending college. Mary enjoyed toiling with the many orchids and plants she had in and outside of her home. Above all, her family was her greatest love and source of pride.

Mary embodied what it meant to be kind, selfless, dedicated and loving. She is preceded in death by her beloved husband, Manny, and her grandson, Travis Weidner. Mary is survived by her eldest son, Chris Cordeiro (Kathleen), twins Constance Cordeiro-Weidner (Randy) and Paul Cordeiro. Mary is also survived by grandchildren Angela, Christopher, and Kelly Cordeiro, Eric Weidner, Andrew, Nicholas and Claire Cordeiro, and great grandchildren Connor, Jake, Nathan (Ange), Chase and Chloe (Cordeiro), and Lucas and Collin (Weidner).

A funeral Mass is scheduled for Friday, July 8, 2016, 10:30 am at Saint Paschal Baylon Church, 155 E. Janss Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91360.

Donations may be made, in Mary’s name to one of the following:

For those from “Back East”: B.M.C. Durfee High School Alumni Association at http://www.durfeealumniassociation.com/apps/webstore/

For those local: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at www.stjude.org

Personal correspondence may be sent to:

[email protected]