Callender, Marie (1907–1995)

Upon tasting one of Marie Callender's home-baked pies that she brought to church and neighborhood gatherings, someone remarked that Marie should consider selling the delicious pies to the public. She did, organizing a small home baking business after World War II that soon turned into gold under the careful management of her husband, Cal Callender. Their son, Don, would expand the business from a single restaurant in Orange County, California, to a chain of over 140 restaurants by the mid-1980s, with annual sales of $175 million. Although the family eventually sold the company, Marie's name remains on all the restaurants as a guarantee to customers that the quality of her pies remains unchanged.

Marie was born in South Dakota in 1907. Her family, as did so ...