Obituary for Richard "Dick" Cornell
Richard Alden “Dick” Cornell passed away on Saturday, November 19, 2022 at Hearthstone Health Campus, Bloomington, Indiana.
Richard was born in an apartment above the Meshoppen Fire Department, in Meshoppen Pennsylvania on December 2, 1932, to Alden Evans Cornell and Julia (Fassett) Cornell. He grew up in and around PA eventually moving in with his grandmother in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania so he could attend Tunkhannock High School where he graduated with the class of ‘49.
Richard left home at seventeen to join his father working on road construction crews. He would often drive stretches of highway in Pennsylvania remarking that he had helped build that part of the road. Toward the end of his long life, he often remembered that those days, building roads in the hot sun, were some of his most memorable.
In 1953 he enlisted in the US Army and served with the 24th Inf. Div. in Korea. The day he arrived in Korea the armistice was declared. He was honorably discharged in 1956 with the rank of Sergeant and used the GI Bill to enroll at Penn State University. There he earned a BS in Civil Engineering and met his wife Janet (nee Savage) Cornell.
Richard and Janet graduated from Penn State in June and the following weekend, June 18, 1960, were married at Asbury United Methodist Church in Erie, Penn. They celebrated 62 years of marriage last summer. After their wedding, they hopped in his Chevrolet, and spent their honeymoon driving across the country, to Los Angeles, California, where he started his first engineering job for Morrison-Knudsen. Over the next 6 years, Richard was on assignment for MK and helped to construct missile defense systems in Missouri, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Montana. He and Janet lived all over the west at this time.
In 1965 they were living in Grand Forks, North Dakota when their first and only child Amy Lisa was born. In 1967, while living in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Richard contracted a virus which left him paralyzed on his left side. It took him many months to recover, but he eventually regained the ability to walk and work. His disability, though devastating, never kept him from a full life.
His company then transferred him to HK Ferguson in Cleveland, Ohio where he spent the rest of his career working in construction estimating. He estimated costs for factories and institutions all over the country. He rose to the level of senior estimator before retiring in 1998. He ended his career by working on the project that dismantled the missiles in Ukraine that were aimed at the US which marked the end of the Cold War.
Richard and Janet raised Amy in Mentor, Ohio where they lived for 45 years. Richard was a Scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts of America and was a member of the Order of the Arrow. He loved to shoot, camp and hunt. He rooted for the Cleveland Browns and Indians. He and Janet traveled to Alaska, England and Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, and around the US. He loved to travel back to Pennsylvania where he grew up and visit with his family.
In 2012, no longer able to walk, he and Janet moved to Bloomington, Indiana to be near Amy. He resided at Meadowood and Hearthstone Health Campus for the remainder of his life.
Richard was predeceased by his mother, father, sister Mildred Shupp, and brother Clark Cornell. He is survived by his wife Janet, his daughter Amy (Geoff McKim), grandchildren Grayson and Tessa, one sister Anne Stang of Meshoppen, Penn., and many nieces and nephews.
Richard served his country with honor, was hardworking and honest to a fault, and was an amazing husband, father, and grandfather. We will miss him, but we know he’s happy being able to walk, at last, with ease. We look forward to the day we will be reunited.
A memorial service will be held in the spring at Waller Cemetery in Pennsylvania. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the Boy Scouts of America or First United Methodist Church in Bloomington, Indiana. Much gratitude to his caregivers at Hearthstone Health Campus who took excellent care of him through the years.
Richard was born in an apartment above the Meshoppen Fire Department, in Meshoppen Pennsylvania on December 2, 1932, to Alden Evans Cornell and Julia (Fassett) Cornell. He grew up in and around PA eventually moving in with his grandmother in Tunkhannock, Pennsylvania so he could attend Tunkhannock High School where he graduated with the class of ‘49.
Richard left home at seventeen to join his father working on road construction crews. He would often drive stretches of highway in Pennsylvania remarking that he had helped build that part of the road. Toward the end of his long life, he often remembered that those days, building roads in the hot sun, were some of his most memorable.
In 1953 he enlisted in the US Army and served with the 24th Inf. Div. in Korea. The day he arrived in Korea the armistice was declared. He was honorably discharged in 1956 with the rank of Sergeant and used the GI Bill to enroll at Penn State University. There he earned a BS in Civil Engineering and met his wife Janet (nee Savage) Cornell.
Richard and Janet graduated from Penn State in June and the following weekend, June 18, 1960, were married at Asbury United Methodist Church in Erie, Penn. They celebrated 62 years of marriage last summer. After their wedding, they hopped in his Chevrolet, and spent their honeymoon driving across the country, to Los Angeles, California, where he started his first engineering job for Morrison-Knudsen. Over the next 6 years, Richard was on assignment for MK and helped to construct missile defense systems in Missouri, Wyoming, North Dakota, and Montana. He and Janet lived all over the west at this time.
In 1965 they were living in Grand Forks, North Dakota when their first and only child Amy Lisa was born. In 1967, while living in Cheyenne, Wyoming, Richard contracted a virus which left him paralyzed on his left side. It took him many months to recover, but he eventually regained the ability to walk and work. His disability, though devastating, never kept him from a full life.
His company then transferred him to HK Ferguson in Cleveland, Ohio where he spent the rest of his career working in construction estimating. He estimated costs for factories and institutions all over the country. He rose to the level of senior estimator before retiring in 1998. He ended his career by working on the project that dismantled the missiles in Ukraine that were aimed at the US which marked the end of the Cold War.
Richard and Janet raised Amy in Mentor, Ohio where they lived for 45 years. Richard was a Scoutmaster with the Boy Scouts of America and was a member of the Order of the Arrow. He loved to shoot, camp and hunt. He rooted for the Cleveland Browns and Indians. He and Janet traveled to Alaska, England and Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, and around the US. He loved to travel back to Pennsylvania where he grew up and visit with his family.
In 2012, no longer able to walk, he and Janet moved to Bloomington, Indiana to be near Amy. He resided at Meadowood and Hearthstone Health Campus for the remainder of his life.
Richard was predeceased by his mother, father, sister Mildred Shupp, and brother Clark Cornell. He is survived by his wife Janet, his daughter Amy (Geoff McKim), grandchildren Grayson and Tessa, one sister Anne Stang of Meshoppen, Penn., and many nieces and nephews.
Richard served his country with honor, was hardworking and honest to a fault, and was an amazing husband, father, and grandfather. We will miss him, but we know he’s happy being able to walk, at last, with ease. We look forward to the day we will be reunited.
A memorial service will be held in the spring at Waller Cemetery in Pennsylvania. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the Boy Scouts of America or First United Methodist Church in Bloomington, Indiana. Much gratitude to his caregivers at Hearthstone Health Campus who took excellent care of him through the years.