Bio of Ralph Cornell

My wife, Susan, is from Pleasant Grove. We were married in the Salt Lake Temple in 1980. All my children have been soccer players with 4 so far playing high school soccer. I have coached many soccer and basketball teams over the years bringing in a few trophies. We have 5 children: Tara 22 (married), Natalie 20, Landon 17, Carlie 15, Cole 13.

Tara attends Utah State University with her new husband, Rusty Banks. She also attended BYU-Hawaii for 1 1/2 years where we had to go visit her once. We are waiting for our 1st grandchild, which is due in November. Natalie is in her third year at the University of Utah. She is planning on a nursing career. Landon is a senior in high school, Carlie in 10th grade and Cole in 8th. Most of our extended families live here in Utah.

I have served in numerous positions since the mission. Most recently I was released as gospel doctrine teacher and am now the ward mission leader. We live about a mile from the Mount Timpanogos Temple and have great neighbors and a great ward.

My wife teaches 3rd grade half-day in Lehi. I work at American Fork Hospital in Nuclear Medicine.

Right now my hobbies and interests are my children, coaching soccer, reading, gardening, running and family history. My wife and I try to squeeze in trips to Hawaii, Florida, Las Vegas, the national parks or wherever we can get to at the time.

I attended BYU and graduated in nuclear medicine at Weber State.

I had 16 companions (I'm not sure what that says about me). They were by last names, Holmes, Johnson, Box, Orrell (twice), Moore, Bennion, Echeverria, Carter, Randall, Barton, Olson, Webb, Fish, Midgett, Escobar, Burton and Keller. I hope I didn't forget someone.

I served in Tegucigalpa, Comayaguela, Colonia Kennedy, Matagalpa, Managua, Masaya, Panama City, David, Alajuela and San Jose.

Dichos I remember: ¡Puchica!, ¡Chuleta!, ¡Qué chavalo!, ¡Qué barbaro!, Sí hom., Geeper, Bagged-out, No hay de que.

At the reunion in 1993, I found out from Brent Baadsgaard that the last door I knocked on, on my last day of the mission, the family was later baptized. What a way to go out! I could have been “cruising” but I really wanted to work up to the last minute. It pays to endure to the end. That happened in San José.

I'll never forget the 2-zone paseo we went on from San Jose to Limon. We took the train to Limon (on the Caribbean coast) and then flew back. 3 of us (Burton, Packer and I) had to stay behind for the night because they overbooked the flight. We saw a lot of beautiful scenery and a side of Costa Rica we didn’t know existed.

The mission has blessed me in many ways throughout my life and I still think about it a lot. President Eager was a "spiritual giant" and was a great example to us all. I hope to be able to go on another mission some day and have many more spiritual experiences bringing souls unto Christ.