Cordie McCord Helferich (1894-1979)

Portrait from "Hebron's Heritage", 1960.

  A recent cull through the annals of the North Dakota legislature has yielded several new odd names, among them Cordie McCord Helferich, a one-term state representative as well as a past mayor of the town of Hebron. While little information could be found on Helferich's life, the 1960 history of Hebron (entitled Hebron's Heritage) helped significantly when it came to compiling this article! 

  A native of Delmar, Iowa, Cordie McCord Helferich was born in that town on May 7, 1894, one of six children born to Charles Wallace and Amanda (Juel) Helferich. Little is known of Helferich's early life, excepting notice of his marriage in Fergus Falls, Minnesota in November 1916 to Dorothy Schultz (1895-1974). The couple's near six-decade marriage would produce two sons, Harold Eugene (1924-1999) and Raymond (1928-1997). Helferich's Minnesota residency would see him managing the Faith Creamery near Twin Valley, and in 1921 took charge of a creamery in the city of Mahnomen.

   Following his resettlement in Hebron, North Dakota in 1928, Cordie Helferich was elected to the Hebron town council in 1932, continuing to serve well into the late 1950s. In 1947 he purchased the Sax Motor Company of Hebron, later changing its name to the Auto Implement Co. In the succeeding years it would operate as a "franchise to sell Chevrolet, Oldsmobile and John Deere products", and Helferich would be joined in this business by his wife and son, Harold. 

  In 1950 Helferich was elected to the North Dakota House of Representatives from Morton County. Nothing could be found on his service in the legislature, excepting the length of his term, 1951-53. In the early 1950s, he was elected as a member of the board of directors for the Hebron Hospital corporation. Helferich would return to political life in the mid-1950s when he became acting mayor of Hebron, due to the resignation of then-mayor Ernest Wolter, who had removed to Oregon. Helferich would subsequently be elected to a full term of his own as mayor in 1958, his total length of service being unknown at this time.

  Widowed in 1974, Cordie M. Helferich died in Mandan, North Dakota on March 7, 1979, at age 84. He was interred alongside his wife Dorothy at the St. John's Cemetery in Hebron.