Carole V. Forbes died June 15, 2022. Born on March 29, 1935, in Youngstown, Ohio, she attended Woodrow Wilson High School where she was class valedictorian and proudly led the marching band as drum majorette. Carole attended the University of Pittsburgh and graduated with a degree in elementary education in 1956. After graduation she moved to Montclair, N.J., where she accepted a teaching position and met her husband Donald Forbes Jr., a union that lasted 53 years until his death in 2013.
She took a break from teaching to raise her two children in Bloomfield, N.J., but stayed active as a founding member and active volunteer at Christ Church Nursery School. She returned to full-time teaching at Carteret School in 1971 where she was valued as a mentor to younger colleagues and an award-winning educational innovator. Even in retirement, she still heard from the families of students whose lives she touched.
After retiring, Carole and Don moved to Dublin, Pa., where they helped raise their first grandchild, Nathaniel. She served as a victim’s advocate and Full Circle Thrift volunteer for A Woman’s Place, roles that earned her an award as Volunteer of the Year.
Carole was overjoyed to have the chance to become a grandmother again to her granddaughter Roxie. She loved visiting her in California, and they developed a very special bond that ended tragically with Roxie’s death in 2019. Although she was heartbroken, she channeled her grief into supporting the work of the foundation honoring Roxie, creating special holiday baked goods for the Living Hope Food Pantry in Dublin, and tending to her beautiful gardens.
Carole will be remembered as a lifelong educator, gardener, fan of the PGA, avid reader, and advocate for the rights of children and women, but above all as a loving mother, mother-in-law and grandmother. She was preceded in death by her granddaughter, Roxie Forbes, and daughter-in-law Elena Matyas. She is survived by her son Douglas Forbes, daughter Karen Forbes, son-in-law Larry Gage, and grandson Nathaniel Gage and his fiancée, Nicole Bessey.
Donations in her memory can be made to A Woman’s Place https://awomansplace.org/.
Send condolences to www.varcoethomasfuneralhome.com.
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