Funeral Service
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church-
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Email Details
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4439 W. 50th St. (@ Wooddale Ave)
Edina, MN 55424 -
Visitation one hour prior to the service. Reception and burial to follow.
Janet Werness Cornish
December 18, 1931 — April 13, 2019
Janet Werness Cornish
Janet Werness Cornish, age 87, formerly of Massena NY, died Saturday, April 13, 2019 at the N.C. Little Memorial Hospice in Edina, Minnesota. She is survived by her daughter Carrie of Minneapolis, and son Kevin of Edina.
Janet was born in Minneapolis, where she graduated from Southwest High School in 1950. She attended Macalester College in St. Paul Minnesota, and in 1953 married Harry E. Cornish, Jr. at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Edina, Minnesota. They met while Janet was working at Glacier National Park in Montana. After marriage, Janet and Harry settled in Idaho where they had two children (Carrie and Kevin). In 1958 the young family moved across the country to Massena NY, where Harry (a Penn State Electrical Engineering Graduate) worked his way up the ranks at the New York Power Authority (NYPA) to become Resident Manager of the St. Lawrence - Franklin D. Roosevelt Power Project. Harry died suddenly in December of 1984.
While living in Massena for 57 years, Janet raised her family and pursued her passions: music, ice skating, furry pets, growing roses, travel and fine dining. She worked as a volunteer for the Massena Arts Council and St. John’s Episcopal Church. Janet sang in the Massena Sweet Adelines (barbershop), Community Chorus and the church choir at St. John’s, where she planned the weekly service music for over 20 years. Janet was also active in Massena's ecumenical Lenten luncheons, held each year at the various churches.
In their early years, Janet and Harry enjoyed square dancing, and on some nights Janet played cards with a women's bridge group while Harry was bowling with his team at the Seaway Bowl. Each Christmas she reached out with homemade cookies for shut-ins, neighbors, friends, Harry’s NYPA colleagues, and those who had served the family throughout the year. In 1977, Janet took up ice skating at the Massena Arena with the “senior” skaters. She hosted skating trips to Brockville, Cornwall, Ottawa, Lake Placid and Saranac Lake, and for 20 years Janet organized a festive luncheon at the end of each skating season.
Janet loved all of God’s creatures, but especially cats, dogs and birds. The family dog and cat had strong attachments to Janet. She fed the birds in the winter (yellow grosbeaks) and even "adopted" Jake the squirrel, who appeared each morning outside her kitchen window ledge, begging for a tasty treat.
Janet loved to travel and enjoyed fine dining at The Village Inn and the 1844 House in Potsdam. Many years after Harry’s death, Janet was fortunate to find a second love in her life, Bob Harrigan. They enjoyed ice skating and going out to dinner together until Bob's death in 1997.
Janet had a giving heart, compassion for others, and a desire to expand theater and concert offerings in Massena via the Massena Arts Council. She thoroughly enjoyed the fine music performances at the Crane School of Music, and the outdoor summer concerts in Norwood and Waddington.
Starting in 2005, Janet's life gradually became hampered by a slowly progressing form of vascular dementia. Janet was such a strong lady to have lived the last several years of her life without the ability to express herself in words. It was amazing how she found ways to communicate non-verbally! Janet understood conversations even to the very end. She displayed a quiet acceptance of her failing health. Son Kevin lived with and cared for Janet in her Massena home from 2007 until 2015, when she and Kevin moved to Minnesota to be near Janet's daughter Carrie. Carrie wanted to help care for Janet along with Kevin, who continued to live with Janet as her primary caregiver, with Carrie as a frequent visitor and “behind the scenes” support person. On April 3rd of 2019, Janet moved into an 8-bed residential hospice house located in a quiet neighborhood close to both Carrie and Kevin. There she lived out her final days under the watchful care of Carrie, Kevin, and the experienced nursing staff at the N.C. Little Memorial Hospice. She died peacefully on Saturday morning, April 13th, 2019.
Janet was predeceased by her husband Harry E. Cornish, Jr., her brother John S. Werness, and her parents Dr. Stanley M. and Dorothy Jean Werness. Funeral Services will be held at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Edina, Minnesota on Tuesday, April 30, 2019 at 12 noon, with visitation at 11:00 A.M. Interment will follow at Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to either Hospice & Palliative Care of St. Lawrence Valley, or to Massena Meals on Wheels.
Janet’s Motto: “There is no such thing as impossible, the impossible just takes a little longer!”
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Janet Werness Cornish, please visit our flower store.
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