Marvin Joshua kornblith

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." - Gandalf the Grey,

The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkein

Marvin Joshua Kornblith, 'Josh', 48, of Monterey, Indiana, passed away at his home due to a heart condition on February 18, 2025.

Josh was born to Marc and Kathi Kornblith on April 14, 1976, in Tucson, AZ. Not long after his birth, Marc and Kathi made their way to Indiana where Josh completed all of his years of schooling. After graduating from Culver Comm. High School in 1994, Josh went on to briefly study at Ancilla College.

Josh decided that his time at college was not for him, and began working various jobs, but really found his passion in the field of Telecom and DC Power. He worked for Chicago-based companies and later was a part of a business in Indiana for several years. Most recently he was employed as Head Estimator for the Signs Structures at Valmont in Plymouth, Indiana.

In 1996, Josh began dating Kelly through the encouragement of a mutual friend. The two married, surrounded by family and friends, on February 21, 2004. They went on to have two children, daughter, Arwen Blair, and son, Soren Greyhame, the loves of his life.

In 2007, Josh began building his dream home, The Kornblith Cabin, with his wife and father-in-law, "Red" Harold Montgomery. The Cabin was Josh's dream home and an absolute labor of love. He built a peaceful, beautiful home in the woods, their very own sanctuary, that he rarely wanted to leave.

Josh loved family time and spent it playing games with Arwen and Soren, watching movie marathons (The Lord of the Rings, a classic and favorite), cookouts, deer hunting with either Arwen or Soren, going to the Bass Lake Drive-In during the summer months to catch a double feature, walks in the woods with his golden retriever, Marley, and black lab, Jett, as well as promoting Culver Swim at local festivals with his family always in tow. Josh dearly loved his family.

In 2021, Josh spearheaded the Culver Community Swim Team. Swimming was near and dear to his heart due to being a swim dad of two longtime Plymouth Sharks. Josh's oldest child, Arwen, wanted to swim for a high school team and he worked tirelessly to make it happen. The Culver Community Swim Team was born. Success!

Josh's passion was for coaching, taking great pride in his position as Head Coach of Culver Community Varsity Swim and Culver Community Middle School Swim. Daily 5:00 a.m. practices are not for the weak. Josh meticulously planned practice sets and geared workouts toward individual needs. He listened but also pushed athletes to go further to reach their goals and knew how best to unlock their potential. He is lovingly known to the kids as 'Coach', 'Coach Dad', 'Pops', 'Coach K', 'Coach Kornblith', and 'Marvin'. He reciprocated by giving all of the swimmers nicknames as he got to know them as individuals, i.e.The Hairdresser, Speedy G, Gojira, A-A-Ron, Gremlin, Aetos or The Eagle, K-Bot 5000, Ferrari, The Garden Gnome, The Banshee, The Ghost, Malice or The Hammer, and The Badger.

He cherished his athletes' individuality as told by his wife. Josh would come home from his early morning practices and share with her the progress of the individual team members and his pride in their improvements as well as drive in the sport.

Josh was an advocate of playing multiple sports and felt that athletics in general make better humans. He believed playing a sport teaches life skills in the way of teamwork, trust, confidence, and communication. He absolutely loved being the CCHS-CCMS Swim Coach.

Josh was also the Assistant Swim Coach for the Marshall-Starke County Special Olympics Swim Team, another family-oriented adventure. He dearly loved his MSSO athletes and their families. He was also a member of the steering committee for Culver Lakefest. He was in charge of the kids games/family contest/watermelon eating contest. He and the Culver Swim Team also participated in both Culver Fall Fest and Culver Winterfest annually to raise monies for swim as well as to promote the Culver Swim Team. Josh loved having his little family/his 'home team' participate in events with him. He always embraced the sense of community and wanted to lend a helping hand to those who needed it.

Josh rarely had free time, but when this occurred, it consisted of evening chats with Kelly while she made dinner, or laughing with his children about life's challenges. Soren believed his dad could fix anything and Josh often showed him that with a little research, YouTube, and maybe some elbow grease anything was easy to fix. Josh always wanted his kids to "do their homework"/research things, understand how things worked, and to problem-solve. He enjoyed tinkering with computer projects, reading, working on vehicles, walking over to his mom and dad's house for a long chat and to see what goodies were in their fridge, chopping wood with his brother, Matt, and son, Soren, or having a well-deserved nap in front of the wood stove.

Josh was the "instigator in chief" at home, bantering with his wife and kids, just to "poke the bear". He had a great sense of humor. Josh loved to laugh. He had the absolute best, hardy, full, BIG laugh. He frequently told his family that everything was funny in varying degrees. He felt that you should be able to laugh off the small things and even the big things as it is medicine for the soul. Anyone that knew Josh will miss his wonderful laugh.

Josh took pride in his Jewish faith. He also believed and often told his children not to worry so much about righting wrongs or seeking revenge in life as he felt that the universe would eventually settle it in due time and that things would ultimately work out and would be balanced. He often said, "Don't waste your cosmic energy on idiots" to his family. Josh believed in karmic energy, that what you put into the universe, you get back. He had a positive approach to life.

Josh is survived by his wife, Margaret Kelly (Smith) Kornblith, daughter, Arwen Blair Kornblith, son, Soren Greyhame Kornblith, parents, Marc and Kathi Kornblith, sister, Rachel (Samer) Zabaneh and nephew, Gabriel Zabaneh, sister, Sarah Kornblith-Smith, and brother, Matt (Sarah) Kornblith, as well as aunts, uncles, and many cousins.

He was preceded in death by his maternal grandparents, Dominic and Myrtle Parisi, maternal uncle, Stephen Parisi, and paternal grandmother, Edna Kornblith.

Services for Josh will be held at a later date.