IRENE CLAIRE CORNELL

Wasilla resident Irene Claire Cornell "Nana," 61, died Sept. 4, 2003, at Providence Alaska Medical Center, from heart and kidney failure following a battle with cancer.

A memorial service will be held at noon Saturday, at the home of Cathy Lavender; please call 868-7772 for directions. Rev. Keith Lauwers will officiate.

Mrs. Cornell was born March 7, 1942, in New Bedford, Mass. In 1976 she moved to Anchorage where she worked for the Anchorage Pioneers Home until 1984. From 1981 until 1983 she lived in Palmer, and moved to Wasilla in 1984. In 1985 she began working for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough School District, retiring in 1991.

She was a member of the Muldoon Road Baptist Church. Mrs. Cornell enjoyed knitting, crocheting, camping, fishing, and, most of all, being with her grandchildren.

Her family wrote she was, "a loving wife, mother, grandmother who came to Alaska over the Alcan Highway in 1976 to start a new life with her husband and children. She lived and worked in the Mat-Su Valley. Irene's loving face and her kind ways always put a smile on the face of all the grandchildren and warmed the hearts of all."

Mrs. Cornell is survived by her husband Eugene Cornell Jr. of Wasilla; daughters Kathy L. Aldeman of Wasilla, Kim Marie Anderson of Oregon, Cindy A. Cornell of Anchorage, Cheryl N. Cornell of Wasilla, Cathrine L. Lavender of Anchorage, and Cheryl A. Wilson of New Bedford, Mass.; sons Robert J. Cornell of Anchorage and Eugene Cornell III of Anchorage; sisters Shirley Grant of Anchorage, Barbara Williams New Bedford, Mass., Mary Jo Duarte of Palmer, and Penny Chace, Sandra Medeiros and Claire Medeiros of New Bedford, Mass.

She was preceded in death by her parents Joseph Vanasse and Lillian Langevin; brother Joseph Vanasse; and sister Carol Vanasse. Arrangements were made with Evergreen Memorial Chapel, 737 E St.