A SIGNIFICANT GOING

In the spring of 1999 the Cornwall family started on a journey that ran until yesterday.  It was really dad’s path, but all the family where in tow for the ups and downs and turns of the trail.  Dad was called to serve as the Bishop of the Monrovia II Ward in May 1999, replacing Bishop Harry P. Terrill.  The Cornwall’s eldest child, Jason, had just returned from his first year of college and was preparing to leave on a mission the next month.   Robb and Katie were in High School; Jeff was in Middle School and ‘the little girls’ were at Mayflower Elementary. Sarah had just turned 7 and Mom was finishing her 4th year of teaching early morning seminary.

Being the Bishop took dad out of the home most week nights, all day Sunday and to many other Church activities: Youth Conference, Great To Be Eight, Firesides, Courts of Honor, Priesthood Preview, Girl’s Camp, New Beginnings, welfare visits, funerals, callings, baptisms, Missionary for a Day, and a lot of meetings.  Mom got wiggly little ones and moody teenagers to Church, mutual, practices, lessons, games, plays and seminary all by herself.  Sunday afternoon Family Councils were always to plan “A Big Week”. 

One particular stretch of the road was a 7 month period at the end of 2003.  Dad did what Bishop’s do for 6 families who had a death in their family.  The passings included mothers, fathers in their prime, new wives and young sons and most were from quickly progressing illness’s.  Deep worry developed with anyone in the Ward who had a slight pain.  Dad even ended up at a cardiologist himself because of a sharp, worrisome pain.  Blessedly it was nothing serious and it subsided in a few months of adjusted diet and activity.  When asked what the malady was, the doctor said, it is what Mormon Bishops get in the their first year or fifth year of serving as Bishop.

Robb lettered in several high school sports and mom and dad never missed a game.  Katie had leading theater roles and mom and dad never missed a show.  Robb went to college for a year and then left on his mission.  Katie left for college. The whole family of 8 went to pickup Jason from his mission. Jason soon married.   Mom approached her 10th year of teaching Seminary.  In 2003 the whole family went to Atlanta to pick up Robb from his mission.  Jeffrey, Rachel and Sarah were continually in theater productions and school societies.   Mom and dad never missed a performance and helped with most of the productions.

The traditional ending tenure for a Bishop approached and dad was asked to be the Bishop of a new Ward, combined from parts of the Monrovia 1st and 2nd Wards.  Every position in the new ward would need to be filled from scratch.  Mom was dad’s counselor for the months prior to the change as they planned and positioned for the move that happened in 2004, exactly on dad’s 5th year anniversary of being a Bishop.  Almost every Sunday thereafter the Cornwall’s had folks over for dinner to help assimilate the new ward family.  For 2 ½ years dad ministered to the new Monrovia Ward.  It was a wonderful ward and the overflow was opened nearly every week in the beginning.

Jeffrey went away to college for a year and then left on his mission.   Rachel had the leading role in two of the biggest productions in Centre Stage and MHS history.  Mom and dad didn't miss a performance.  They also regularly traveled to see Katie perform on stage and with the Young Ambassadors.

Katie, the first daughter, married the first week of August 2006.  Robb got engaged two weeks later for a winter wedding in Boston.  It came time to reorganize the Arcadia Stake Presidency the 2nd weekend in August.  Dad got a call to come and meet with Jeffrey R. Holland of the 12.  Dad accepted the call to serve as first counselor in the new Stake Presidency.  It would be about 6 weeks before a new Bishop of Monrovia Ward could be called.  Dad’s first counselor had moved a few months before so dad and his second counselor ran the ward as dad did double duty with his new stake calling.

Dad’s assignments in the stake presidency had him over the Youth and Primary and Scouts so he continued with his involvement in Youth Conference, Great To Be Eight, firesides, Courts of Honor, Priesthood Preview, Girl’s Camp, as well as Funerals, visits, baptisms, Missionary for a Day, Seminary graduation, Standards Night, YW in Excellence, Seminary Breakfasts,  P.P.Is,  plus overseeing the Stake Musical every other year, Ward Conference, Eagle Scout slide shows, helping initiate Handcart treks, waitering R.S. dinners, Fathers & Sons, setting apart missionaries, calling stake leaders, veil working, attending auxiliary in-service meetings, weekly temple recommends, planning and speaking in Conferences, teaching, training, bi-annual audits, and a lot of other meetings.

The whole family, which had grown to 13, went to pick up Jeff from his mission and stop by Disney World on the way home. Mom and dad drove Jeff back to college.  Rachel graduated high school and they drove her up to college.  As Sarah was finishing high school she had her run in leading musical theater roles. Mom and dad didn't miss a'one.  In 2010 mom and dad drove Sarah up to college. Rachel went to study-abroad in Paris and then decided to go on a mission to Brazil.

Mom and dad  traveled to Kansas, Massachusetts, Oregon, San Jose, Illinois, Missouri and Provo on the occasion of baby blessings and baptisms.  Jeff graduated college. The whole family traveled to Washington State for Jeff;s wedding. A year later Rachel married and moved to Ohio. A few weeks after that Sarah left on her mission.  In the fall of 2014 the whole family of 2 (i.e. only mom and dad) drove up Interstate 5 to Santa Rosa to pick Hermana Cornwall up.  It was the same route to get their baby as they had taken in 2001 to pickup their eldest from his mission in Eugene.  Within a few weeks mom and dad drove Sarah up to her final semesters of college.  Mom was in her 20th year of teaching seminary.

Year after year Dad’s assignments included regular early morning Sunday meetings and visiting other ward’s Church services for the past 9 years. Mom’s single-handed role of getting 6 children to Sunday meetings evolved as the years ebbed by that one at a time each child left to college, mission and/or marriage so that by the fall of 2010 she was coming to Church by herself.   It was the only time in the whole journey that mom ever said anything was hard.  In mom and dad’s 36 years of marriage thus far, dad sat on the stand, apart, for 18 of them.

That era has COME to an end.  On Sunday, September 13, 2015, the wheels softly rolled to a stop on the journey that took dad so many places.  The stake presidency was released and Harry P. Terrill was called as the new Stake President.  At the end of the Stake Conference session there was nothing much else to do than for dad to take mom’s hand and walk down the quiet corridor GOING out the back door of the Stake Center.  They took the first steps of their next journey.