Judith M. Forbes

1947 - 2024

We are sad to announce that Judith M. Forbes, 77, beloved daughter of the late Jud W. and Eloyse (Brown) Forbes, peacefully left her earthly body on Nov. 26, 2024. She was born Sept. 17, 1947, in Goshen, and lived there most of her life, later moving to Union, Michigan.

After graduating from Goshen High School in 1966, she graduated from Western Michigan University in 1970. She lived in Kansas and in Texas, working with at-risk juveniles, and she volunteered for VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America).

Judith spent her summers in Michigan at the family cottage on Baldwin Lake, Union, with her parents and her brother, Judd, along with relatives and friends, including the Fessler, Rogers and Cushing families. After her father died, she sold her Goshen home in 2003 and lived at the lake with her mother, until Eloyse needed to go to a nursing home. Judith lived at the lake cottage for the rest of her life, except for the five days before her death at the Hospice House in Kalamazoo.

Judith had many passions and one of them was cats. At one point in her life, she had 23 cats and was lovingly referred to as the "cat lady" by the people who knew her best. Judith was also an aficionado of women's basketball, and she loved every Notre Dame woman's basketball team.

Judith worked at the post office carrying mail in Goshen until 1991. After that she worked as an addiction counselor at the YWCA in South Bend, and in 1995 at a drug and alcohol program for Elkhart County. She worked as an interventionist until she retired in 2009. She had a CADACIV certification and was a licensed addictions counselor for the state of Indiana.

Gardening was another passion of Judith's, and she worked from sunup to sundown planting and tending several gardens, always looking for a better and easier way to get the work done. She also was always looking for someone to eat her produce because she did not like vegetables. Judith earned her Master Gardner certificate in 2014 and was a certified Indiana Master Naturalist.

Judith loved to tell a good story and if she could not hold your interest and make you laugh, she was very disappointed. This made her the perfect hostess at the Waterford Bed n Breakfast, which she owned and operated until she moved to the lake cottage.

Judith was in recovery for more than 40 years and was very devoted to staying clean and sober. She was respected in this community and helped many people along the way.

Left to cherish her memory is her bother, Juddy Forbes, Maryville, Tennessee, her nephew, Chris (Amy) Miller, and their children, Wyatt and Kenzie Miller, all from Middlebury, nieces, Marion Forbes, New Orleans, Louisiana, Kyle (Jack Sandford) Forbes, Maryville, Tennessee, longtime dear friend, Nancy Denlinger, Elkhart, along with other supportive relatives and friends, as well as her 12 cats.

Visitation for Judith will start at 10 a.m. Saturday, March 8, with a memorial service following at 11 a.m., all at Rieth Rohrer Ehret Funeral Home, 311 S. Main St., Goshen. Memorial donations may be directed to Catsnip, 17612 Bramblewood Dr., Goshen, IN 46526, or Cass County Animal Control, 323 M-62, Cassopolis, MI 49031, or Elkhart Alano Inc., 949 Middlebury St., Elkhart, IN 46514.

Online condolences may be sent at www.rrefh.com.