Brief Story of Duwayne Cornum

Voris Jane Miller and Dorrel Duwayne Cornum in the fall of 1936, in Sanford, Colorado,
before they were married December 24, 1936

Brief History of Duwayne Cornum   

Dorrel Duwayne Cornum - baby
born March 24, 1915 in Sanford, Colorado

Dorrel Duwayne Cornum was born March 24, 1915, in Sanford, Colorado, at the home of Aunt Naomi Valentine. The little log house still stands on the southwest corner, of 1st North and 1st West St. He was the son of Heber Dorrel Cornum and Lizzie Pearl "Reed" Cornum. He is the oldest of a family of nine children: Gwendolyn Emerson, Bonnie Coombs, Shirley Fugate, Frank Cornum, Monte Cornum, Judy Parrish, Rex Cornum (Died in infancy), and Kurt Cornum.

D. Duwayne Cornum - Senior Picture in Springville, Utah, in 1934.

Duwayne grew up in Sanford and the area near there. He lived on a farm with of Sanford for several years. He received 11 years of his schooling in Sanford and his Senior year in Springville, Utah, where he stayed with his Aunt Mary and Uncle Ralph Reed. He graduated from the Springville High School in 1933.


He was always a hard worker, helping with the sheep and pigs and working in the fields. Milking by hand several cows while he was living on the farm. He lived on a ranch between Manassa and Sanford, where Ivan Thomas now lives, for most of his childhood.  When he was about 14, the family moved into Sanford, where Bob Cummings now lives.  He was very active in sports, playing baseball, basketball and track. He was a very fast runner. He also spent any spare time, and occasionally had to miss school to make spare time, ice skating. He could skate backwards faster than most, could skate foreword.


He and his family moved to Glendale, Arizona, in 1934, during the depression. He and his Father raised lettuce and had a crop failure. He being the oldest had to find jobs to help support the family . His memory of living in Arizona are not pleasant, he said they nearly starved to death down there. So they returned to Sanford the next year. They moved in with his Aunt Alice Reed. He and his Father built extra room onto her home, and Lizzie became the assistant Post Master. Alice was the Post Master for forty-two years, and the Post Office was on the east end of her home.


Duwayne married Voris Miller, December 24, 1936. He worked with his Dad , a few years drilling wells. They lived their first three years in the "Swen Peterson" apartments, then moved to Alamosa where Duwayne ran a Standard Oil Truck delivering gas. Wages her in the Valley were low, so they moved to California where more money could be made.


So Duwayne and Voris and their two children, Sherry and Tennis, moved to Los Angeles.  He worked for Standard Oil there, they were there when Pearl Harbor was bombed, December 7, 1941. It only took them six months to get all the City Life they needed. After several nights of black-outs and search lights in the sky expecting Japanese planes, they left Los Angeles.


Duwayne got a job with Construction work in Hobbs, New Mexico, building airports for Skousen and Hise Construction Company. He also worked in Carlsbad on an airport.


In the fall of 1942 they returned to Sanford and built their own Gas Station, Hardware Store, and Garage combined. They also bought the garage, which is now the Post Office and home of Fern Nielson. He ran this business for 20 years. They had bought Voris's parents home, and this is where they live today, there in Sanford. During this time they had five more children: Lorene, Hal, Myrna, Debbie, and Marilee, this making seven children in all. While Duwayne was busy with the Station, he also served as Mayor for 16 years. At this time he was noted for being the youngest Mayor in Colorado.


In 1956, he was having trouble with his knees and feet from working on cement so long. So he decided to go back to road construction work in New Mexico, again for "Skousen and Hise". He and Verdan Mortensen worked on many roads and dams all over the state for over 20 years. The family remained in Sanford except for the summer months when they lived with him in the trailer house. Every fall Voris would move back with the children to get them back into school. It was not possible for the family to stay with their Father all year, as he would have to move one to three times during the school year. But they looked forward to the weekend when he could come home.


Duwayne and Verdan were considered top notch heavy equipment operators. Duwayne was the foreman of most of the jobs, he was an expert blade man. He retired from construction work in 1976, when they had just finished building the Trinidad Dam.
He had heart surgery in Denver in February, 1975, which he recovered from in a few months. Other than a couple of heart attacks which were prior to his surgery, he has had very good health. Although he had another heart attack in March 1990, just two weeks before his 75th birthday. He was very lucky to live in the day of modern medicine, which saved his life and give him a clean bill of health, for a couple more years. In the spring of 1993 he had to have his hearth ballooned, but at least it was not open heart surgery again.


After his retirement, he dug and cleaned wells and installed pumps. And since 1982, he has been care-taker for the Sanford Cemetery. He has planted all the cemetery in lawn grass, and has made many improvements. It is now a very beautiful place, due to his efforts.


Duwayne has always been a strong, honest, hard working man. He has been active in the Church, holding many position. It has been since his later years that the Church has become so important to him. He and Voris filled a mission in 1984-1985, in the Pittsburgh Mission. There they served in West Virginia in the Wheeling Branch. They enjoyed their mission very much. While on their mission Voris had a heart attack, but they were able to remain there until it was finished. One month after coming home she had heart surgery. 
So now they even have more in common, although this was not something they wanted to share. Duwayne for the last several years and now is doing extraction in the Church. He spends many hours reading old Spanish films and extracting the names off them. He has proven you can teach an old dog new tricks.


Duwayne and Voris celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary, December 24, 1986. At this time they had a prosperity of 40 children and grandchildren. As of his 80th birthday, they have a prosperity of 61 children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, with 2 more great grandchildren on the way. Duwayne loves his family very much, and they have a lot of good times together. He loves to get them together for picnics and at Christmas time, and every Sunday night at his house for popcorn. They younger grandchildren call him "Papa" and he has enjoyed spoiling them, he is especially proud to be the Great Granddad to Erica's new little twin boys. He has always had lots of friends and enjoys being with people. He has really enjoyed life having so many of his family and friends living near him.


This story was dedicate to Duwayne on his 80th Birthday, Happy Birthday Dad!


Compiled by Marilee, 24 March 1995.

Closeup of the above picture in Butte, Montana

Duwayne Cornum, age 2, in Butte, Montana,
visiting his Aunt Hettie Bates, in 1917.

Duwayne playing with the kittens
at his Aunt Naomi Reed Valentine's
in Sanford, Colorado, this was his birthplace.

Duwayne Cornum - grade school

Duwayne Cornum and Voris Jane Miller Cornum
newly-weds in Sanford, Colorado, 1936.

Duwayne Cornum about 17 yrs.

This is Duwayne's little blue jeep pulling a float in the 24th of July parade, there are many fond memories of this little blue jeep.  Main Street in Sanford, Colorado.

Duwayne and Tennis Cornum oiling the wheels on the wagon at the Cornum's Hardware and Station
in Sanford, Colorado - about 1946.

Cornum Hardware & Service Station in Sanford, Colorado
This is Duwayne Cornum with Dow Kennedy, a sales rep.

Francis Whitney, Edker & Cecil  Wilson, Lab Garcia, Duwayne Cornum, Guy Cunningham, Lindy Cunningham,
and Kenneth Jones - standing.

Hal & Duwayne Cornum in about 1952.

Duwayne Cornum and Harvey Jones on the Mt. Taylor job,
near Cubero, New Mexico, in 1969.

Voris Jane and Dorrel Duwayne Cornum, 1978.

Road job in Deming, New Mexico, in 1970.

Duwayne Cornum watering at the cemetery, 1997.
He served on the Sanford Cemetery Board from 1980-2004; part of this time he served as caretaker.
During this time the cemetery took on a new clean appearance.  He leveled and planted the whole cemetery into lawn grass, trimmed the willow trees and planted the Russian Olive trees.

Duwayne Cornum with his great granddaughter, Rylie, 2004