Obituary of Leslie Jean Cornwell
Peacefully, and with courage, surrounded by her family, Leslie Cornwell passed away at age 58 on Monday, May 25, 2020.
Central to her life was her family. She will be greatly missed by her beloved husband, Glenn Paulley, her precious sons Andrew and Ryan; sisters Cathy Cornwell-Brown (George Foster) and Kim Hagan (Brian Hagan), brother-in-law Gordon Paulley and mother-in-law Stephanie Paulley. Leslie was predeceased by her parents Jack and Betty Cornwell.
Leslie had what might be called an idyllic childhood, growing up on Parkville Drive in the St. Vital neighbourhood of Winnipeg on a city block that at one time had 50 kids. She and her sisters had a wealth of friends in her neighbourhood, and to Leslie the two most important were Jill Lucas (née McGrath) and Kathy Bielus (née Newton). Leslie was a Brownie and Girl Guide and from that experience developed a deep love of camping. Summers were spent at the family cottage at Bird’s Point, Saskatchewan, on Round Lake in the Qu’Appelle Valley. Later, at YMCA Camp Manitou and YMCA Camp Stephens Leslie fell in love with canoe tripping and would enjoy being away in the wilderness of eastern Manitoba or northwest Ontario for weeks at a time. Later, as a mom, Leslie’s extensive repertoire of YMCA camp songs would surprise her boys; many of the songs she could still recite by heart, in their entirety.
Leslie relished family gatherings and holidays. An excellent cook, she was noted for her ability to pick out the best new recipes that soon became family favourites. Her peach pies were much coveted and unsurpassed. In recent years, Leslie and Glenn developed a love of Italian cooking and cooking classes became “date nights”. Leslie also spent many hours scrapbooking to record her family’s life and milestones.
Leslie met her future husband, Glenn, at the University of Manitoba where she was one year behind her husband in the undergraduate Computer Science honours program. They started dating in 1981, and became engaged in July 1982 after Glenn had graduated with his Bachelor’s degree. Leslie graduated with a Bachelor of Computer Science degree in the summer of 1983, in the first co-operative education graduating class from the University of Manitoba. Glenn and Leslie were married in September 1983, three weeks after Leslie’s final exams in August.
Leslie was an avid curler, starting as a Junior at the St Vital Curling Club in Winnipeg when she was 13. She played competitively for a few years in the late 1980’s, playing for Linda Smalley’s Winnipeg rink, and began playing with Glenn as soon as they started dating in 1981. From then on Glenn and Leslie played together on one mixed team or another at a variety of curling clubs in Winnipeg (Valour Road, Victoria, and Winnipeg Granite), briefly in Kitchener at the K-W Granite Club, and then for much of the past 25 years at the Elmira and District Curling Club in Elmira. Except for this most recent season, Glenn and Leslie played together for 37 of the past 39 years; the only other curling season she missed was 1997-1998 when she was expecting her twin boys. The other sports that she enjoyed were squash, canoeing, cross-country skiing, and most recently golf. Leslie’s passion for camping and canoeing, built over the years by spending summers at Round Lake or at YMCA Camp Stephens on Lake of the Woods, greatly influenced both her husband and, later, her sons. We remember fondly summer vacations canoeing in Algonquin Park. Andrew and Ryan have not only attended YMCA camps throughout their youth but have been YMCA camp leaders as well, particularly at YMCA Camp Belwood.
Over her 37-year career after graduation Leslie had three employers: in Winnipeg, Gendis Inc. and the Canadian Wheat Board, and in Waterloo with The Mutual Group, now Sun Life Assurance of Canada. The workplace was important to her and she greatly enjoyed her friendships with many of her colleagues at all three companies. In the latter part of her career, Leslie was a Database Administrator on Sun Life’s Data Management Services team, which she really enjoyed. Since Glenn’s area of research was database systems, dinner conversations were frequently about SQL query performance, database design, or two-phase locking protocols, much to the bewilderment, and frequent amusement, of her sons. To Leslie, the recent “working from home” response to the Covid-19 pandemic, with the resulting limited contact with her co-workers, was a significant loss.
Leslie loved and was involved with music all her life. She grew up taking piano lessons first from Mrs. Salo on Parkville Drive, and later from Sister Noella Raymond at the Académie Saint-Joseph in St. Boniface. Leslie earned her Grade 10 piano certificate with the Royal Conservatory of Music in 1979. As an alto, she sang in the Winnipeg Girls Choir, the St. Vital United Church “Joybelles”, and several community choirs in Waterloo. One of her joys was to volunteer with the Kitchener-Waterloo Mennonite Mass Choir to sing Handel’s Messiah at Christmas. In high school, Leslie also played alto saxophone in Dakota Collegiate’s Concert Band and Stage Band. She and Glenn were long-time season ticket holders with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony. Leslie brought up her boys in the same musical traditions.
The family would like to thank Dr. Yu and the palliative nurses of Paramed (Courtney, Sarah, and especially Margo) for the care Leslie received at home during her last few weeks. We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to Dr. Robert Chernish and Dr. Sheila Russek of St. Mary's General Hospital intensive care unit "B", St. Mary’s LHIN Care Coordinator Nancy, and the ICU nursing staff, including nurses Mary, Sarah, Amanda, the three Amy's, and Kate. Together, the ICU staff made a significant difference to Leslie's care in hospital and we are very grateful for their compassion and their efforts to bring Leslie home. We would also like to thank Sheila Dorsch, Regional Director of the ALS Society in Kitchener-Waterloo for her support, guidance, and empathy.
Some of our friends will wish to express your condolences to the family by sending floral arrangements. Some of have already done so and we are honoured and very grateful to have received them. Unfortunately, both Glenn and his son Andrew are severely allergic, and we will not be able to cope with a houseful of cut flowers, even with medication. So, as an alternative the family offers two suggestions. One, rather than sending cut flowers, we would be delighted to receive a potted plant that we can plant in our yard outside the house, preferably a perennial. Two, in lieu of flowers, please consider donating to one of the following registered charities that are meaningful to Leslie:
- Bruce Trail Association
- Kitchener-Waterloo YMCA
- Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony
- Faculty of Science, University of Manitoba
- Canadian ALS Society
- Curling Canada - For the Love of Curling Scholarship Program
And, once you make a donation, send us a card with where you have sent your donation. We will cherish them all. You can send the card to our home address at:
Glenn Paulley
194 Pine Grove Crescent
Waterloo, ON
N2L 4V1
A private memorial service for Leslie is planned for Sunday, June 7, 2020 at 7:00pm EDT at the Erb & Good Family Funeral Home, 171 King St S., Waterloo.
