Didier family matriarch, a link to the suburbs' agricultural roots, dies at age 98

Mary Sue Link Didier, the matriarch of the family that owns Didier Farms near Lincolnshire, died last week at age 98.

John Didier, one of her nine children, said his mother died in the house on the Aptakisic Road farm property where she lived her entire life.

“She died at home, just like she wanted to,” he said.

Didier was one of the last links to the area's agricultural roots. Her great-grandfather, Bernard Theobald, was a German immigrant whose homestead was at the corner of what is now Deerfield Parkway and Route 83.

“I still remember the old homestead,” she recalled in a book containing recollections she shared with Long Grove resident Jeri Monroe. “It had a wonderful orchard, which yielded the most delicious strawberry apple.”

Didier was born Jan. 5, 1925, in a tiny hospital in Wheeling, the daughter of John and Leona Sturm Link. John Link purchased the farm on Aptakisic Road and the family was part of a fledgling community where life revolved around St. Mary Church, which was built in 1899.

“It was a German farming community,” John Didier said.

An only child, Mary Sue went to St. Mary School and performed in school plays in Firnbach's Hall, where Lou Malnati's restaurant now stands. She also helped out on the farm, feeding the pigs, cows, horses and chickens, cleaning out the pens and collecting eggs.

“The chore I disliked the most was cleaning the corn stalks out of the cows' manger,” she told Monroe. “That was very hard because the stalks were long and turned every which way as I struggled to get them out of the narrow door.”

She married Herbert Didier on Oct. 16, 1948, spending their wedding night at Chicago's famed Edgewater Beach hotel. She recalled one date at Chicago's Aragon Ballroom.

“When we got married we had absolutely no money,” she told Monroe. “Herb had bought a tractor with the money he had saved. The money I had saved went to the purchase of a corn planter.”

Herbert Didier died in 1993.

Didier Farms was known in the Northwest suburbs for the fresh vegetables from its farmstand and the flowers from its greenhouse, as well as its annual Pumpkinfest. The family ended the farm's retail operation — including Pumpkinfest — last year.

“She loved to see the activities going on and the seasons changing and the different things we did every season,” John Didier said, adding that his mother roasted corn for the annual Halloween festival.

She remained active in church life and enjoyed playing cards with various senior groups, including one at Vernon Township. And, of course, she enjoyed her 33 grandchildren and 45 great-grandchildren.

“The kids loved to come over and see grandma,” John Didier said, adding that his mother would play cards and marbles with the young visitors.

“One thing is she never let them win,” he added.

Services were held last week in Wheeling, prior to interment at St. Mary Catholic Cemetery in Buffalo Grove.