Obituary of Cornelia Pringle Knower

ITHACA - Cornelia Pringle Knower died peacefully on April 20th, 2021, in Ithaca, NY, surrounded by her family. Formerly of Barneveld, she has spent the past four and half years living at Bridges Cornell Heights, Ithaca. She was pre-deceased by her husband, John Knower; and sister, Patricia Miller. She is survived by her children, Jack Knower, of Martha's Vineyard, MA, Spring Knower (Chris Bergman), of Putney, VT, Patty Kennedy (Mark Kennedy), of Barneveld and Jim Morris-Knower (Ellen Morris-Knower), of Ithaca. She is also survived by her grandchildren, Andrew Kennedy, John Knower, Maggie Morris-Knower, Jacob Morris-Knower, Teddy Morris-Knower and Brigid Morris-Knower; as well as many beloved nieces, nephews and grand-nieces and nephews. Cornelia was born in Utica, NY, on July 26, 1930, the second child of Mort and Targ Pringle. She graduated from Utica Free Academy, Elmira College (BA) and Utica College of Syracuse University (MA in elementary education). She and John were married at St. David's Episcopal Church, Barneveld, in 1952 and lived their entire married life in Trenton Falls. She also worked for a number of years as a kindergarten teacher in the Holland Patent, New Hartford and Barneveld schools. Cornelia was a traveler, artist and overall life of the party. She especially loved travelling to NYC on buying trips for Doyle-Knower and claimed to always have a bag packed in her closet, ready to go. She took up watercolor painting around 1981 and spent many happy hours painting by streams and rivers in the Adirondacks with her group of painting friends or with John, who would happily read the NY Times while she worked the landscape. Although more of a feeder than a foodie, she loved making sure people were never hungry. Her tool of culinary choice for much of her adult life was the Crock Pot and her chilis, goulashes and stews, despite pretty much all tasting the same, were comforting. She also found joy and purpose cooking for others at places like Hope House in Utica and Camp Jabberwocky on Martha's Vineyard, with John as her sous chef. Cornelia was a huge fan of any excuse to attend or hold a social gathering and especially loved any holiday that involved decorations. Halloween, in particular, was something she never got tired of and is remembered fondly by all her grandchildren for her homemade costumes (her Power Rangers and Buzz Lightyear costumes were stand outs). The family would like to thank all the staff at Bridges Cornell Heights for their loving care of Cornelia for the last years of her life. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to Hope House, Utica. There will be no funeral services.