Michael Cornwell

Michael (Mike) Cornwell, aged 72, of Kennesaw, Georgia, passed away Saturday, October 14th, 2023. Mike was born on November 11th, 1950. Mike enjoyed telling people that he was born in the Women’s Correctional Facility in Marion, Ohio, stipulating that the institution had become Marion General Hospital shortly before his birth. Sadly, and typically of Mike, that is not true. Marion General has only ever been Marion General.

Mike’s parents were Leroy Ross Cornwell and Doris Jean Cornwell (Disbennet), and Mike had one sibling, his brother Jeffrey Lee, who is five years his junior. When Mike was in elementary school the family moved to Upper Arlington, Ohio, where Mike graduated from Upper Arlington High School (home of the Golden Bears!) in 1968.

Mike met his wife Melissa (Missy) in 1980, and after two VERY stormy years of dating, despite reservations that it might be a very bad idea, eloped on September 3, 1982. At the time of Mike’s death, they had been married for forty-one years, the majority of which were very, very happy.

Mike worked from age 12, starting as a newspaper carrier for the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, where his route included former Ohio State coach Woody Hayes and golfer Jack Nicklaus. (He always said Mrs. Nicklaus was a GREAT tipper at Christmastime). When a friend injured his finger in shop class in high school, Mike accompanied him to a hospital for treatment. He was fascinated from the time he walked into the ER and soon became an Orderly at the Ohio State University Hospital. At the urging of friends who felt that nursing was not an appropriate career, Mike worked in pharmaceutical sales for years before finally going to nursing school and graduating Cum Laude from Columbus State Community College in 1989. He was immediately hired as an Intensive Care Nurse at Doctors West Hospital in Columbus. After he and Missy relocated to Marietta, Georgia in 1991, he spent ten years at Wellstar Kennestone Hospital where at one point, he was nurse manager for two ICU’s, an intermediate care unit, and a Cardiac Care Unit. In 2001, he moved to Rome, Georgia, to join Floyd Medical Center as manager of the ICU, and then became the Director of Critical and Coronary Care Services. He returned to Wellstar Kennestone Hospital in 2012 to finish out his career as a Coronary Care nurse and then a clinical reviewer for Quality Management. He retired in 2018 and spent his final years enjoying life and his dogs.

Mike was a natural leader and mentor and brought many new nurses into the intensive care units he led. He had a knack for teaching and dozens of nurses throughout the Wellstar Kennestone and Atrium Floyd systems have benefitted from his tutelage and passion for bedside nursing.

Mike and Missy adored dogs and during their marriage were parents to nine dogs and three cats.

Mike was preceded in death by his parents. He is survived by his German Shepherd Dog, Bodhi, wife Melissa (Ridenour), brother, Jeffrey Lee Cornwell (Patty), Sister-in-law Laurie Darko (John), sister-in-law Sarah Shepherd, and brother-in-law Thomas W. Fields (Carol), as well as beloved nieces and nephews Daniel Cornwell, Andrew Cornwell (Andrea), Morgan Cornwell (Nichole), Molly Ford (Ashley), Jessica Bailey (Matthew) and Bryan Darko (Samantha Hogan), Daniel Shepherd and Katelyn Shepherd, Cory Fields and Taylor Fields; numerous grandnieces and grandnephews. And Missy's cat, Stewart, who apparently is going to outlive us all.

Friends and family are invited to Mike’s visitation at Winkenhofer Pine Ridge Funeral Home Sunday, October 22nd, from 3:00 – 5:00 p.m. or Monday, October 23rd from 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. His service will follow at 11:30 a.m., presided by Pastor Greg Cater of Rome, Georgia.