Working for Fort Worth: Corky Friedman remembered for lifelong passion for North Texas
An absolute believer in Fort Worth. Champion for the city. Contagious zest for life.
This is how those who knew Cornelia “Corky” Friedman described her. From her involvement in the city’s civic groups, her work promoting fine arts and the fabled breakfast with President John F. Kennedy, Friedman did not only witness the evolution of Fort Worth. She also helped shape it.
She died Monday at 89.
Her childhood in Fort Worth forged lifelong friendships that shaped her love for the city and a sense of commitment to her family, her son Harry Friedman said. She briefly left the city — meeting her husband, former mayor Bayard Friedman at the University of Texas — but the couple quickly returned to help guide its future.
“They were so devoted to this community,” he said.
Bayard Friedman died in 1993. Along with Harry, Cornelia is survived by sons Walker and Alan Friedman and daughter Nita Friedman.
Bayard Friedman played a major role in negotiating the agreement between Fort Worth and Dallas that led to DFW Airport in the 1960s. It was a time, Harry Friedman said, of growth in Fort Worth that saw it transition from a small cowtown to a major city. Though Bayard Friedman was leading the city, Cornelia Friedman was pushing him forward and building relationships, Harry Friedman said.
“They were an amazing couple,” he said. “She was the foundation upon which Bayard could stand.”
But Corky Friedman stood out in her own right.
Without her and others like Phyllis Tilley, the Trinity River may still be a dirty ditch, said Stacey Pierce, executive director of the nonprofit Streams and Valleys. The women were on the first committee formed to explore restoring life to the river. They faced a major challenge and laid the groundwork for what has become 75 miles of trails and parks dotting the river, Pierce said.
“At the time, this meandering forested river had been channelized and buzz cut. This beautiful river was basically a ditch with refrigerators and tires in it,” she said. “Corky was among those that said that just couldn’t be.”
Pierce first met Cornelia Friedman when she worked with the Fort Worth Symphony, of which Friedman was a board member and past president. The symphony was one of many culture-related passions for Friedman, who sat on fine arts councils for TCU and the University of Texas as well as on the board for Bass Hall, among others.
Beginning in the 1960s, Friedman helped elevate art and culture in the city at a time when it was vying for recognition against other cultural centers.
“They really thought about Fort Worth as a national player,” Pierce said. “She never dreamed too small or thought the work would be too hard.”
Mayor Betsy Price has known the Friedman family since she was in high school. They grew closer when the mayor joined the Junior League, an organization Cornelia remained actively involved in, and later when Price worked with Streams and Valleys.
Price described Cornelia as “a classic woman of the ‘60s” with elegance and beauty who also “was not opposed to getting her hands dirty.”
“She was passionate about Fort Worth,” Price said. “She was always trying to make Fort Worth better.”
More recently Cornelia advocated for the Tarrant Area Food Bank as chairwoman for the nonprofit’s capital campaign.
“She loved that food bank,” Harry Friedman said. “Can you imagine? Almost 90 and still going like that. She obviously wasn’t worried about becoming irrelevant.”
Cornelia also played host to one of Fort Worth’s more historic moments — the visit of Jackie and John F. Kennedy ahead of the fateful Dallas stop in 1963. Bayard and Cornelia Friedman hosted what would be JFK’s final breakfast.
Cornelia recalled in a 2013 National Geographic special that she nearly fainted when Kennedy complimented her earrings. The visit was short but the first couple enchanted Fort Worth.
“We didn’t even vote for Kennedy,” USA Today quoted Cornelia Friedman saying. “But by the end of the day, we were like everybody else — totally captivated.”
Through all of his mother’s work, Harry Friedman said he recalled his mother’s humor and energy most.
Both Cornelia and Bayard Friedman were avid tennis players. Later Corky adopted water skiing with a group of women. But she was probably best known for her skill at the bridge table, reaching the Silver Life Master level.
Harry Friedman marveled at her energy, even in her later years.
“It always struck me as strange. How could you raise four children, do all these things she did and still have time go play tennis, ski or play bridge?” Harry Friedman said. “She just had a real zest for life. I don’t know many people like her.”
This story was originally published June 27, 2019 at 6:30 PM with the headline "Working for Fort Worth: Corky Friedman remembered for lifelong passion for North Texas."
