Emery and Mattie Cender Scholarship

When Emery Cender and Mattie Stalter were married, on a cold December 7 in 1927, they had no way of knowing the Great Depression lay only two years ahead. But a look at their 55 plus years together prompts one to ask, “Would knowing have frightened them?” Probably not. Emery and Mattie are made of tough fiber and genuine faith. What hard work can’t solve, a houseful of love can.

Emery was born on November 13, 1906 near Foosland, Illinois. Mattie was born on May 6, 1905 near Gridley, Illinois. Both the Cender and the Stalter ancestors came from the Alsace-Lorraine region in Europe.

After the couple was married, they began their life on a farm near Dewey, Illinois, where they were to live for 25 years. In the first twelve years they had four sons and five daughters, all of whom are now married and living in Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Belgium.

When the depression hit, Emery hauled coal and combined beans for neighbors, besides his own farm work, to make ends meet. Mattie managed her large gardens, raised poultry, and canned hundreds and hundreds of quarts of fruits and vegetables. During that time, Emery was school director of a two-room school and Federal Land Bank Director for a number of years.

When lean times abated, Emery went into the propane gas business with two of his cousins, while his sons continued the farm operation. The gas business prospered, and after their marriages all four boys ended up working with it. Emery had by that time become sole owner of what as then called Cender Gas Company.

Emery and Mattie’s children remember great crowds—family and guests—gathered around the dinner table. They remember Mattie’s father living with them for 12 years after the death of his wife and recall his witty disposition and great story telling. They remember the house being open to others who lived with them for short periods of time, especially an MCC trainee from Germany who stayed with them for six months.

And what the children remember is still the way things are. Emery and Mattie are still busy, and the house is still humming with activity, especially since nearly 30 grandchildren have come onto the scene. Now, with their scholarship fund, the Cenders are reaching even farther out, to touch the lives of young people they’ve never met. In a letter their children wrote to them to celebrate their 50th anniversary, the Cenders are perhaps described best. “With patience and love,” the letter reads, “you have taught us to worship and work.”