'Aunt Frieda's' book on sale soon

Carson Valley green, Sierra gray and sky blue all mix together in a collection of columns written by Frieda Cordes Godecke for The Record-Courier, and compiled by the Cordes cousins.

The book featuring a photograph of "Aunt Frieda" by Minden photographer Jay Aldrich has more than 60 columns written by Godecke in the 1970s.

The Cordes cousins started meeting in 1999. The Cordes Cousins Hen Party Float, in which the cousins danced down main street during Carson Valley Days wearing chicken costumes, won first place in the 2005 parade.

The book project began about four years ago. Myllie Hoover and Patty Myers visited The Record-Courier to talk about compiling their Aunt Frieda's columns published in the newspaper.

The 16 Cordes cousins formed a corporation to work on the book project. The final product is nearly 300 pages long.

"Everyone worked on it," Hoover said. "We took all of the columns and retyped them."

The first time they will be available is at the Minden Farmers Market on June 1 for $20 including tax. They will also have a booth set up in Minden Park after the Carson Valley Days Parade on June 12.

Their marketing plan is to recoup the cost of publishing the 1,000 numbered copies by selling them in person.

And the cousins hinted there may even be a few chickens showing up to help sell the books.

The Cordes cousins are Marian Cordes Christensen, Betty Cordes, Charlotte Godecke, Stanley Godecke, Myllie Cordes Hoover, Krista Jenkins, Shirley Lundergreen Jones, Loretta Lundergreen, Terry Lundergreen, Grace Cordes Morris, Patty Cordes Myers, Mary Nagel, Frances Spikes, Ruth Lundergreen Spikes, Donnis Thran and Lois Cordes Thran.