Ethel May (Johnson) Forsting
Ethel May (Johnson) Forsting
Ethel May (Johnson) Forsting, 95, passed away peacefully at home Aug. 1, 2024, surrounded by her loving family.
Ethel May Johnson was born March 1, 1929, at the Whitehall Hospital to Lee Theodore Johnson and Esther Teresa (Cummings) Johnson.
She attended Pole Grove Grade School and graduated from Hixton High School in 1946. Being she was told she could not get married until she was 18, she worked for Dr. and Mrs. Irwin Krohn as a nanny until April 9, 1947, when she married the “Love of her Life”, Joseph James Forsting (Jim). To this union came 14 children, 71 grandchildren, 68 great-grandchildren, and 7 great-great-grandchildren.
After working on other farms, a dream came true and Jim and Ethel purchased their own farm in 1960, living there until 1980, when they moved to their home in Alma Center, where family enabled Ethel to continue living after Jim died Jan. 2, 2012.
She was a member of St. Mary’s PCCW, and Immaculate Conception Catholic Church since 1947. She taught CCD classes until beginning a job at Family Heritage Nursing Home in August of 1976. She became a certified nursing assistant and worked there for 13 years to help educate and care for her family. She retired in 1989 to start “Grandma’s Day Care,” to care for younger ages.
She loved her “Faith, Family and Friends,” plus flowers, gardening, music, dancing, traveling and reading.
Besides her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles; her sister, Marian; brothers Charles and Earl Johnson; one daughter, Mary Joanne Teresa; three great-grandchildren; brother-in-law John Forsting; and sisters-in-law Marianne Forsting of Anchorage, AK, and Mary Gagnon of Black River Falls.
She is survived by children James (Wanda) Forsting, St. Cloud, MN, Alan (Sandy) Forsting, Merrillan, Ken (Julie) Forsting, Jeanine (Hoyt) Strandberg, and Don (Kathleen) Forsting, all of Alma Center, JoAnne Forsting of Black River Falls, Jaynee (David) Collins of Eau Claire, Marianne Wittchow of Merrillan, Michael Forsting and Mia (Joe) Anibas of Alma Center, Mark (Debbie) Forsting of Edgerton, and Marcia (Greg) Baugher, David Forsting, and sister-in-law, Diane Johnson, all of Alma Center. She is also survived by many nieces, nephews, relatives and friends.
A visitation was held the evening of Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Jensen-Modjeski Funeral Home in Hixton. Monday, Aug. 5, 2024, visitation was held from 10 to 11 a.m. at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Alma Center, followed by a funeral mass at 11 a.m. Burial took place immediately after at the St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Alma Center, and all were invited to join the family afterward for a luncheon at the church.