Sidney's Medicine Man

If you've lived in Sidney for a significant amount of time, you have no doubt heard the name of Dr. C. J. Cornelius, Jr. percent He has been "doctoring," among other things, for more than 60 years in the Sidney area. percent Many of you had your broken arm set, your appendix removed, or were even delivered, by him. percent Sadly, his medical service came to an end on Thursday, March 19, after a long battle with several health issues that come with the territory of a 93-year-old man. percent

I was encouraged by some of my four siblings (Donna, Wayne, Scott, Trish) to write a short story about the man I'm proud to call my Father, or "Pops," as I called him. percent Many of you know him, and might even be aware of his vast resume´ of medical and community service honors - we'll leave most of that to the obituary writers. percent But I'm writing today in hopes that you know more about the human side of him that most people only got a glimpse of, the old softy with a stone-faced exterior. percent The youngest of his five children, I volunteered for this duty, so I sincerely hope that I capture the character of our dad to the satisfaction of my siblings.

I honestly don't know a lot about my dad's years growing up in Kearney, one of six children. percent Times were difficult and he learned the value of reward for honest effort. percent He spoke little of that experience, but you can bet there were many tales to tell. percent Two stories are worth retelling. percent He found out about a kite flying contest in Kearney and was determined to win it. percent His winning entry was a 12-foot tall kite that flew using telephone wire. percent He also joined the "marching band" at his school with a $2 harmonica. percent Sadly, he had to quit the band when that instrument was lost. This was during the depression and there was not another $2 for a replacement instrument. percent This financial situation made an impression on him and probably led to his commitment not to be in such a situation again. percent He went to three different colleges on different scholarships and, on a Navy stipend, went to medical school. percent When he arrived at Creighton for Medical School, the registrar demanded an additional $500 that he did not have. percent Fortunately, his mother, our grandmother, told him that she would provide that payment even though she didn't have it either. percent She knew that her son was something special and would make an excellent doctor.

Most of you probably don't know that Carl excelled at athletics in high school and in college. percent Did you know that he was a four-sport letterman (football, basketball, track, baseball) while at Doane College in Crete? percent Or that he played offensive guard in football for Western Michigan at 165 pounds? percent My how times have changed! percent He spent time in the US Navy, stationed on an LST medical ship for a time off the coast of South Korea during the Korean War. percent He eventually graduated from Kearney State College and attended Creighton Medical School, where he met his wonderful wife of 70-plus years, our dearest mom, Rose.

But did you know that he loved carpentry and gardening? percent I was often amazed at the knowledge he possessed when fixing things around the house. percent He rarely cut the same board three percent times because it was too short the first time. percent And, he, with the help of a small group of local construction contributors, built a cabin in the Snowy Range Mountains 30 miles west of Laramie. percent He loved to wake us kids up from our sleeping bags with the loud zing! of the table saw that he would fire up each morning. percent He even built the fireplace, mostly from large rocks collected on the way home from the daily fishing trips he took his family on each afternoon, and usually let his boys out-fish him so they would be more amenable to picking up rocks on the way back to the cabin. percent He spent hours in his backyard garden, nursing tomato plants indoors in February, planting them outdoors in April, and harvesting his crop in the fall. percent Perhaps you saw his "greenhouse" from Hillside Golf Course that he constructed to give his tomato plants a head start. percent Let's be fair, nobody from Better Homes and Gardens would ever come out to photograph it, but it certainly was "functional."

Speaking of Hillside Golf Course, I played golf with him on numerous occasions. percent However, I cannot remember a single instance when he played past the sixth hole before being called to the hospital to set a broken arm, stitch up a gash, or deliver a baby. percent The only times he ever completed a round of golf was when we were vacationing in another place. percent Thankfully he didn't have a cell phone back then!

Dad loved the Wyoming cabin, and the great outdoors in general. percent For a time, he contemplated having his ashes sprinkled at the foot of Medicine Bow Peak, but we no longer have to consider the arduous task of that *high-altitude hike. percent In addition to his expertise at catching brook trout with a fly rod, he would occasionally relent to my begging to go pheasant hunting on a fall Sunday afternoon outside of Sidney. percent Once in a great while, we would actually get a bird or two, but most of the time we gave up after an hour or so and pulled over to the side of the road to listen to the Broncos game on the radio. percent He loved all sports, especially watching his kids play them. percent He always went to our high school football, basketball and baseball games - many of them on the road - and could also be seen pulling in to catch the last two innings of our little league games in the fields east of Legion Park. percent On his trips to Phoenix to visit his kids and grandkids, he loved going to our local high school football and basketball games, even though he only knew the players from my description of them. percent We would watch Broncos games, Denver Nuggets games, and Phoenix Suns games together, and then talk about the latest developments in the Husker football program.

Dad was our biggest fan. percent He always had the parking spot closest to the 50-yard-line at Weymouth Field back when cars were allowed to park along the track to watch home football games. percent I don't remember seeing my brother Wayne play as he was significantly older, but sometimes, when he got in the basketball game in the waning moments, if he fouled, Dad would yell, "Atta boy Wayne, you got your name in the paper!", referring to the fact that any stat would get you in the Sidney Telegraph box score. percent Before I was in high school, we would travel with Mom and Dad to away-games, usually with friends of theirs, and my buddy Jeff sitting in the rumble seat of the red 1965 Dodge station wagon. percent I recall one trip to Sterling where Jeff, up to his usual tricks, let loose some intestinal bombs that would make a Dinklage Feed Yard Foreman wince. percent I was nearly in physical pain as I attempted to hold my breath long enough to avoid breathing the acrid air around me. percent The predictable response from the front seat came soon, "Brian, you boys having a contest back there?" percent Before I could explain that I had no part in the air pollution, Jeff responded, "Yeah, and Brian's winning!" percent The high school principal and his wife, sitting in the middle seat, were duly impressed, and Mom and Dad were so proud.

My brother Scott's high school friends, as rambunctious as they were athletic back then, assigned nicknames to everyone. percent Dad's was C3 (C-cubed), which stood for Coach Carl Cornelius, and referred to the fact that he would often critique their performance in the pervious Friday night's football or basketball game when they came to our house for a visit. percent One fall weekend, he took a bunch of them to a University of Wyoming football game in Laramie, and then on to the cabin, where he introduced them to the thrill of being awakened by the buzz saw. percent He became C4, (C-quadruple), or simply "Drupe", after that, when they added Carpenter between Coach and Carl Cornelius. percent Drupe offered his wisdom to all who would listen...

His community service contributions were numerous. percent He served in the Rotary Club for decades, and served on the Sidney City Council, Sidney School Board (three of us received our high school diploma from him), the Board of Health, and the Nebraska State Board of Blue Cross-Blue Shield. percent He was given many awards and recognitions for his service. percent He was also a board member of SafePlay Manufacturing of Sidney, the makers of Tuf Wear boxing equipment. percent He was a huge proponent of the Midwest Stramit Company of Dalton that once developed building materials from compressed wheat straw (which unfortunately burned down and never recovered, but was the primary component of his Wyoming cabin walls and ceilings). percent He was also a big advocate of the budding wind turbine power industry, pushing for the Wind Technician training curriculum to be added to the Sidney campus of Western Nebraska Community College.

I was fortunate enough to attend the Western Nebraska Community College commencement ceremony in Scottsbluff not too long ago where he was asked to speak. percent His speech revolved around the phrase "Get off the couch!", referring to the time in the evenings after the regular work day ends and there are vast opportunities to serve one's community - he definitely walked the talk. percent He inspired me to get into coaching as a way to give back to my community and school system, which I have done for the past 30 years (no nicknames, please).

One of the things Dad was most proud of was the development of the Sloan Estates Assisted Living facility. percent He did not contribute his Carpenter skills, but he was instrumental in getting the initial facility in place, and was constantly pushing for expansion as he felt there was a great need for it. percent When we were in town visiting, we would watch the 4th of July fireworks from the parking lot, and were served ice cream by the staff as a bonus. percent It's ironic that with all the time he spent there-much of it planting and watering the trees out front-he never once stepped foot in it as a patient. percent percent

One of his favorite avocations was singing with the Fort Sidney Colonels-affectionately known as the Singing Sons of Pitches-where he was a charter member of that group founded in 1956. percent He even got his kids involved as we had roles in the productions of The King and I, The Music Man, and others. percent My brother Scott and I couldn't carry a tune if it were strapped to us, but Wayne, Trish, and Donna loved to gather around the family piano and belt out melodies from Oklahoma!, or perhaps South Pacific, with Dad, much like he had done with his siblings growing up. percent The last time the whole family got together was in the mid-1980s in Kearney for his mother's 80th birthday. percent We all gathered around the piano and sang loudly (some of us may have lip-synched) as Aunt Mary played show tunes, jazz, and gospel tunes.

Did I mention that he was also a workaholic as a doctor? percent He would not agree with that assessment as in his eyes, there was no difference. percent We typically did not eat supper before 7 or 7:30 p.m. as we waited for him to come home from the office so that we could all sit down to the table as a family, which he dearly loved to do. percent After supper, there was the familiar "Rose, do you think you could scare us up a little ice cream?" and he would then share some of his "dumb jokes" for which he was (in)famous. percent He worked 6-1/2 days a week most of my childhood. percent And that did not include the nights he was awakened at 2 am by the hospital to look after someone in the Emergency Room. percent But he would still arise early the next day so that he could make his rounds at the Hospital before heading to his office to see patients. percent You see, being a doctor was not just what he did for a living, it was who he was, indelibly imbedded in his DNA. percent He was a family man, sportsman, community server, political activist wannabe, but first and foremost, he was a doctor of medicine-everything else in his life took a back seat. percent We had a retirement party for him in 2006, but nobody told him that he was supposed to stop "taking care of sick people", as he called it, after retirement. percent The special place he held in his heart for Veterans drove him onward as he continued to see a handful of VA patients up until only a few short weeks ago. percent As Obi-Wan Kenobi of Star Wars fame would say, "the Force was strong in this one".

Dad indeed have a gift. Somehow, he would just figure out what the medical issue was and would act upon that knowledge. Many years ago, when his brother George was nearly killed in a plane crash, we flew to Kirksville, Missouri to see George in the hospital.  George was not getting better.  After sitting with him and observing him for the better part of a day, Dad told the physician in charge that George had a perforated bowel. That diagnosis proved to be correct.  George was operated upon and the tear was fixed.  Without that surgery, George would have died of infection.  Call it what you will, intuition, a gift from Heaven, or divine intervention, Dad was always able to analyze the situation, determine the problem, and decide what needed to be done.

His kindly touch and gentle bedside manner as a doctor rarely carried over. percent We certainly experienced that at home. percent That gruff exterior could be very intimidating, and when Mom uttered "wait 'til your father gets home", you knew there was a price to be paid for whatever infraction you had committed. percent There was rarely a gray area with him-things were either right or wrong, and if you ended up on the wrong side of right, you were going to hear about it. percent But his bark was far worse than his bite-beneath that tough-guy exterior beat a heart of pure gold, which, sadly, not all were exposed to. percent My wife of nearly 39 years, Carolyn, was reluctant to come into the family when we were first married, having witnessed firsthand the well-intentioned but unpolished delivery of several verbal rebukes. percent She quickly learned that the heart of stone was easily melted as family bonds were established, and they got along famously from that point on. percent Growing up, "I love you" was a phrase reserved only for Mom, and us kids rationalized it by "we knew he loved us, he didn't have to say it." percent But, Dad mellowed significantly with age, and for the past two decades or more, I cannot remember a phone call that didn't end with those special three words.

Dad had very few close friends, most of whom passed away before he did. percent Maybe it was because there were few people that measured up to his idea of commitment and conviction. percent There was no room to talk if you didn't walk the talk in his book. percent When the Sidney doctors formed a community practice, he declined to join them as he felt it might show that he put the interests of the doctor ahead of those of his patient. percent For taking such positions, he was not always a popular man, but like I said before, there were very few gray areas with him. percent His Christmas Letters always spoke about his family, but there was usually a jab tucked away inside for the political "mickey mouse" being pulled by some in Washington DC. percent He loved to banter with his former office mate, Dr. H.C.Q. Nelson, as their views from different ends of the political spectrum frequently appeared as letters to the editor in the Sidney Telegraph. percent It was not difficult to gauge his political stance, and that conviction he held nearly as deeply as he did his Hippocratic Oath. percent At one time he expressed disappointment that none of his kids entered the medical profession, but later retracted it after stating that "insurance companies took much of the joy out of practicing medicine". percent Fortunately, my sister Trish married a physician, Dr. Paul Dietze, and he now had "the doctor son he never had". percent

In closing, many residents of Sidney and Cheyenne County knew of Dr. C. J. Cornelius, but only a small handful really knew the gentle, caring man inside the stoic facade. percent With age comes wisdom, but also compassion, as the issues of our youth don't seem to be such a big deal, and family and service to our community begin to take precedence over just making a living. percent Whether his efforts touched you as a patient, or you were touched by his involvement in the community, he had some influence on your life in Sidney. percent I'm sure I can speak for my siblings when I say we are all very proud of the man I called "Pops," and I sincerely hope that you know him just a little bit better after reading this. percent May God bless Sidney, Neb., and our great country.