Dirk Lee Cornelius

DIRK LEE CORNELIUS Dirk was born in Rochester, Minnesota on October 31, 1962, the son of Diane and Arvid Cornelius. Later his Mom married Bob Krogh. He had an older sister Lori, a younger sister Lisa, and a brother John. He was mechanically inclined right from the start, and took apart everything to figure out how it worked. He had many good friends in his old neighborhood and enjoyed exploring outside with them. He fixed everyone’s bikes for them. One of his favorite memories from childhood was his Uncle David taking him fishing. He enjoyed skate dancing. He was very creative and artistic as well as mechanical. He would paint, sculpt, and even sew, had had made custom knee-high moccasins while in high school. He attended John Marshall High School with the future love of his life. He and Sheila Connelly were close together in the alphabet with their last names but did not begin seeing each other until attending a party of a mutual friend, Jeff. After that Dirk asked Sheila to go to a Rush concert, and they were inseparable from that point forward. After graduation, he attended Rochester Technical College where he received his Mechanical Drafting Certificate. He and Sheila were married on August 4, 1984 at Christ the King Catholic Church in Byron. His first job after college was at Marine Iron & Shipbuilding in Duluth. Their son Bradley was born in 1987 while living in Duluth. They moved to the Twin Cities the same year. They were able to buy a house in Oakdale and it quickly became the neighborhood go to spot. They have lived there for over 25 years. Their second child, Elaine, was born in the year 2000. Dirk was a very fun and adventurous man so he made sure the kids had every cool toy or set up possible. His interests followed the kids and he was the coolest dad out there. When Bradley was younger, he loved WWF Wrestling. Dirk did not hesitate to make a custom leather wrestling belts to compete for within the trampoline that he had caged in for the matches, and the family room was also customized for wrestling. The basement and garage were also fun zones Dirk worked hard to customize with toys. After beginning work at Rollerblade Company, he began bringing his interest in that company home. There was a rollerblade named after him called “The Dirk” that he was very proud of it. In the backyard, Dirk built a half pipe for the neighborhood kids to rollerblade on. However, eventually Bradley broke his arm and that was the end of that adventure. Dirk and Bradley spent most of their time on hobbies together and Elaine and Sheila spent most of their time on hobbies together; however, Dirk still loved spending time with Elaine and making her smile with building her forts as a kid. When it came time for a father-daughter dance at school, Dirk headed straight to the barber to have his hair dyed (he did not want to look like a grandpa!). As time went on, their interests continued to grow and even included downhill skiing. Eventually, the hobbies began focusing on dirt bikes, cars, and motorcycles. They never needed a new hobby after that and had a tremendous amount of fun and achievements. At 14, Bradley bought his own car and he and Dirk went to work on customizing it. This was not a typical custom job and it quickly became an unbelievable project. They installed vertical hydraulic doors, custom audio and visual equipment, neon lights around the skirt, a neat paint job, and special leather seats. Dirk had every tool imaginable, including an industrial sewing machine for leather. At one point, Dirk worked for Red Wing Shoe Company and he was part of the team that built the world’s largest boot. Throughout his work career, he completed 6 patents and was featured in the Wall Street Journal for his products. Dirk was most recently working at Det-tronics and will be missed by his coworkers and friends there. It was a unique trait to be both mechanically intellectual and naturally creative, but Dirk thrived at both. There are endless stories about the projects that he took on throughout the years and include a castle he built for a birthday party where Dirk was the dragon and the partygoers were attacking him with swords. Without a doubt, he was the life of the party and the reason for the smiles and laughter all around him. Dirk really wanted a shed and the city of Oakdale gave him a 10x10 foot restriction on the shed. As any excellent engineer would do, he built upwards instead. The shed was named “Shedzilla” and included an elevator pulley system to store four wheelers and other equipment on a second level. More than anything, his family was the center of his life. He was a caretaker and constantly concerned that people were comfortable and fed. He was always feeding everyone and making sure they were laughing. Each night before bed, he would bring a smorgasbord of snacks to the kids. This would include apple fries, cubed Jello, rice krispie bars, and many other food inventions. He was a good chef and never used a recipe. There is no way for words to give justice to Dirk’s personality and demeanor, but he will be greatly missed by all whose lives he touched. Preceded in death by grandfather, Louis Hollenbach; grandparents, Martin and Anna; father, Arvid; and niece, Arielle Quast. Will be dearly missed by his wife, Sheila (nee Connelly); son, Bradley Dirk (Ashley Mogush, fiancé); daughter, Elaine Vanessa; parents Bob and Diane Krogh, siblings, Lori (Dave Speich) Cornelius, Lisa (Carl) Wojcik; and John Krogh; and many other family and friends. Gathering of friends and family on Thursday, September 8, 2016 from 3-6PM with a service to celebrate Dirk’s life at 6PM at Mueller Memorial, 4738 Bald Eagle Ave., White Bear Lake.