Obituary of John William Cornwell

John W. Cornwell, 62, passed away unexpectedly on Saturday, December 12, 2015 at UW Hospital in Madison, surrounded by his family. He was born on October 29, 1953 in Argentia, Newfoundland, Canada to Keith and Betty Cornwell. John graduated from Cambridge High School in 1971, he also attended Fort Atkinson High School. He later attended MATC-Madison for Mechanical Design. He married Donna Jean Zeh on February 2, 1980. They have two daughters,� Carissa Jean and Keeley Johnna, and two grandsons,� Jayden Kai Ridgeman and Jacksyn Thomas Ridgeman.� �Grandpa John� was extremely proud of his grandsons and loved spending time with them.� They could not wait for him to come home from work everyday.� He was so looking forward to sharing everything with them. �He will be greatly missed by his family and friends. The past 25 years John has worked at WE Energies mostly as a lineman. Before that he worked at Wright�s Tree Service, Valley Sanitation and Laminated Forest Products. John was an extremely passionate and �full of life� kinda guy. He was tough, strong-willed, very opinionated and stubborn.� But he was also sensitive, kind, and thoughtful.� John was always up for an adventure be it across the country, the state or just out to the backyard.� John was a do-it-yourself handyman, mechanic, an outdoorsman and nature-lover.�� He had an unforgettable smile with sparkling blue eyes and beautiful gray hair that he called blonde.� He took great pride in keeping in shape and staying young. John loved riding motorcycles and all aspects of competition, ice-racing, TT, trials, short track or anything to do with motorcycles. He was an accomplished motorcyclist and loved to teach and share his talent with others or just spend time �talking motorcycles� with anyone.�� He was the AMA District 16 of Wisconsin & UP Motorcycle Trials Champion in 1977. Donna & John are music lovers, especially �Blues� and �Rock and Roll� and enjoyed as many �Concerts in the Park� and �Blues Festivals� as they could fit in. They are members of the Blackhawk Auto Club and loved going on Road Rallys. If you knew John you know that he was very knowledgeable and passionate about politics and wanted to change the world to make it better for everyone. John is survived by his wife, Donna, daughters, Carissa and Keeley and grandsons, Jayden and Jacksyn, sisters Wanda Kidwell of Frederick, OK, Christine (Darryl) Marx of Edgerton, brothers Wayne (Marlene) of Milton, Chris (Dawn) of Jackson and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents and brother-in-law, Clay Kidwell. Visitation will be held at Nitardy Funeral Home, 1008 Madison Avenue, Fort Atkinson on Friday, December 18 from 4 - 7 pm immediately followed by a �Celebration of Life� at the American Legion Dugout, 201 S Water St E, Fort Atkinson. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the CAC (Community Action Coalition for South Central Wisconsin) 1717 N. Stoughton Rd, Madison, WI 53704-2605 or online go to www.cacscw.org/donate . The family would like to thank the owners and staff of Viking Brew Pub, Stoughton EMS, Stoughton Hospital and UW Hospital for their quick and caring response and efforts.