Ethel May (Johnson) Forsting

Ethel May (Johnson) Forsting, 95, passed away peacefully at home on August 1, 2024,
surrounded by her loving family.
Ethel May Johnson was born on 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. & 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 January 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, 3 great grandchildren, brother-in-law, John Forsting, sisters-in-law, Marianne Forsting of
      Anchorage, Alaska 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, Marcia (Greg) Baugher, David Forsting, and sister-in-law, Diane
      Johnson, all of Alma Center. Also many nieces, nephews, relatives, and friends.
      A visitation will be held on the evening of Sunday, August 4, 2024, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the
      Jensen-Modjeski Funeral Home in Hixton. On Monday, August 5, 2024, visitation will be held
      from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. at the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Alma Center,
      followed by a funeral mass at 11:00 a.m. Burial will take place immediately after at the St.
      Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Alma Center, and all are invited to join the family afterward for a
      luncheon at the church.