CASCADE, Iowa (AP) --- Family members of a northeast Iowa woman wanted a special way to remember her after she died, so they chose a way that seemed most fitting: with a family recipe for sugar cookies.

The recipe for "Mom's Christmas Cookies" is inscribed on the back of Maxine Menster's gravestone at a cemetery in Cascade. The recipe has marked her grave for decades.

Her daughter, Jane Menster of rural Bernard, says she and her father were searching for a way to remember their mother's generosity. She says the sugar cookie recipe serves as a reminder of her mother's love, and an enduring holiday tradition for their family.

Maxine Menster died on Sept. 26, 1994. She was 68 years old.

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