Obituary for Elizabeth Forsthoefel (Mihalka)
Elizabeth (Beth/Betty) Virginia Forsthoefel, our beloved mother and wife of Frederick (Fritz) W. Forsthoefel Jr. (deceased 1977) and daughter of Elizabeth Mihalka (Baran) and Emerich (Emeri) Mihalka (both previously deceased), peacefully passed away on March 13, 2022 in her sleep. She is survived by her eldest daughter Jill T. Grant J.D, (Stow, OH – husband, Tim Grant), grandson Curtis C. Grant (Chagrin Falls, OH, wife Amy & Cora, great grand-daughter), eldest son Dr. Frederick W. Forsthoefel lll D.O. (Belpre, OH) and second son, Kurt S. Forsthoefel, business owner (Cuyahoga Falls, OH – partner, Beth Gatchell). Beth’s youngest son, Mark J. Forsthoefel, preceded her death by 11 days.
Beth, the only child of Emeri and Elizabeth, was entrusted to the Schlachet family during the Great Depression because her parents could not afford to care for her. For several years she lived with and was deeply loved by Rifka (Ma) and Jacob. The Schlachet family had seven children of their own, yet they provided a warm and loving home for Beth during her formative years. Beth was removed from this beloved Jewish family by the Catholic diocese and sent to St. Joseph’s Orphanage Asylum for Girls until she was fostered by another family in Maple Heights, OH. She graduated from Angel Guardian Academy in Cleveland, OH in 1949. She continued to have strong ties to the Jewish culture for the rest of her life. Her chicken matzo ball soup was a family favorite!
Beth worked at the East Ohio Gas Company in Cleveland and was transferred to Warren, OH in 1951. She met her husband, Fritz, in 1952, and they married in May of 1953. They quickly started a family and had four children in just over 4 years. Beth was all about family and focused on caring for her family and creating wonderful family traditions and values. She taught her children the value of money at an early age as she required them to give her a nickel for each can of Shasta Pop they consumed. They were all required to do chores to earn money at an early age. Beth spent much of her time outdoors in parks, gardens and picnics and vacationing in northern Canada.
Beth was also a wonderful baker and one of her many great cooking achievements was pie-making. She had an exquisite ability to make the ‘best” crust in the world and her apple pie, and later modified to apple-blueberry pies, were the “talk of the town”. Even in her 80’s she was making pies every week for so many people. She brought her pies to the weekly Friday “Happy Hour” at Silver Lake Towers (SLT) where they were received with much acclaim. She really enjoyed these special times at SLT.
Fritz, her late husband, preceded her in death by 45 years, passing in 1977. After his death, Beth jumped back into the work-force for several years. She moved to Houston, TX for a few years in the mid-1980s, and even took real estate courses. One of her most accomplished positions was Store Manager at Bendler’s Inc., Office Supply & Service Centre in Richmond Heights, OH. She retired in 1995, but continued to live a lively and wonderful life of dancing, playing cards/board games, going to estate/garage sales and making great food for family and friends. She was a gardener as well and delighted in flowers and was caretaking a garden at her senior condo complex, SLT, well into her eighties. Mom always wanted to play games with her children and even into her late 70’s she would arrive with a wiffle ball and bat in hand and would say “let’s play a game.”
Beth would make friends with any stranger she met. Beth was very outgoing and would light up a room with her smile and amazing friendliness for all. She also had a very spicy and cunning wit and could accomplish about anything she set out to do. When she was almost 89, she fooled the Summit county community bus into picking her up at her assisted living center, where she resided (during the peak of the COVID pandemic), and convinced them to take her to Wal-Mart for 2 hours. She evaded the employees during the shift change to thwart security/sign-out and make it, as she said, “to freedom.” She came back with a large watermelon and a bag of groceries while using a walker! The assisted living folks never knew she was gone until her son, Kurt, alerted them to the “breakout” several hours after her return.
Beth spent most of her last 3 years in Belpre, OH living with her son, Fritz, and met many new folks, despite the COVID pandemic. Her son Fritz did an outstanding job caregiving for her and both Fritz and his brother, Kurt, worked extremely well together to give her the best possible care. On March 5th, one week before Beth’s passing, all three were together and went to Quincy Park in Parkersburg, WV for 3+ hours and played cards and a had wonderful Bulgarian Crepe meal with Mocha Frappes; it was 78° and sunny and Mom was almost in heaven!
Beth lived a wonderful, tough, courageous, full, extraordinary and unbridled life. Her tenacity and beautiful spirit were contagious and welcomed by so many. Beth’s soul and beautiful spirit lives on inside those she touched in this world. She had such a deep love of family, and she will be remembered forever! She was called to be with her Marky (Mark) and went to heaven shortly after his passing. We love you so much Mom!!
Public calling hours will be held for both Mark J. Forsthoefel and Beth Forsthoefel on Friday March 18th, 2022 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Dunn-Quigley Funeral home in Stow, OH (3333 Kent Road) and a Celebration of Life will be posted and held at a later date. See Mark’s and Beth’s Book of Memories at www.dunn-quigley.com
Beth, the only child of Emeri and Elizabeth, was entrusted to the Schlachet family during the Great Depression because her parents could not afford to care for her. For several years she lived with and was deeply loved by Rifka (Ma) and Jacob. The Schlachet family had seven children of their own, yet they provided a warm and loving home for Beth during her formative years. Beth was removed from this beloved Jewish family by the Catholic diocese and sent to St. Joseph’s Orphanage Asylum for Girls until she was fostered by another family in Maple Heights, OH. She graduated from Angel Guardian Academy in Cleveland, OH in 1949. She continued to have strong ties to the Jewish culture for the rest of her life. Her chicken matzo ball soup was a family favorite!
Beth worked at the East Ohio Gas Company in Cleveland and was transferred to Warren, OH in 1951. She met her husband, Fritz, in 1952, and they married in May of 1953. They quickly started a family and had four children in just over 4 years. Beth was all about family and focused on caring for her family and creating wonderful family traditions and values. She taught her children the value of money at an early age as she required them to give her a nickel for each can of Shasta Pop they consumed. They were all required to do chores to earn money at an early age. Beth spent much of her time outdoors in parks, gardens and picnics and vacationing in northern Canada.
Beth was also a wonderful baker and one of her many great cooking achievements was pie-making. She had an exquisite ability to make the ‘best” crust in the world and her apple pie, and later modified to apple-blueberry pies, were the “talk of the town”. Even in her 80’s she was making pies every week for so many people. She brought her pies to the weekly Friday “Happy Hour” at Silver Lake Towers (SLT) where they were received with much acclaim. She really enjoyed these special times at SLT.
Fritz, her late husband, preceded her in death by 45 years, passing in 1977. After his death, Beth jumped back into the work-force for several years. She moved to Houston, TX for a few years in the mid-1980s, and even took real estate courses. One of her most accomplished positions was Store Manager at Bendler’s Inc., Office Supply & Service Centre in Richmond Heights, OH. She retired in 1995, but continued to live a lively and wonderful life of dancing, playing cards/board games, going to estate/garage sales and making great food for family and friends. She was a gardener as well and delighted in flowers and was caretaking a garden at her senior condo complex, SLT, well into her eighties. Mom always wanted to play games with her children and even into her late 70’s she would arrive with a wiffle ball and bat in hand and would say “let’s play a game.”
Beth would make friends with any stranger she met. Beth was very outgoing and would light up a room with her smile and amazing friendliness for all. She also had a very spicy and cunning wit and could accomplish about anything she set out to do. When she was almost 89, she fooled the Summit county community bus into picking her up at her assisted living center, where she resided (during the peak of the COVID pandemic), and convinced them to take her to Wal-Mart for 2 hours. She evaded the employees during the shift change to thwart security/sign-out and make it, as she said, “to freedom.” She came back with a large watermelon and a bag of groceries while using a walker! The assisted living folks never knew she was gone until her son, Kurt, alerted them to the “breakout” several hours after her return.
Beth spent most of her last 3 years in Belpre, OH living with her son, Fritz, and met many new folks, despite the COVID pandemic. Her son Fritz did an outstanding job caregiving for her and both Fritz and his brother, Kurt, worked extremely well together to give her the best possible care. On March 5th, one week before Beth’s passing, all three were together and went to Quincy Park in Parkersburg, WV for 3+ hours and played cards and a had wonderful Bulgarian Crepe meal with Mocha Frappes; it was 78° and sunny and Mom was almost in heaven!
Beth lived a wonderful, tough, courageous, full, extraordinary and unbridled life. Her tenacity and beautiful spirit were contagious and welcomed by so many. Beth’s soul and beautiful spirit lives on inside those she touched in this world. She had such a deep love of family, and she will be remembered forever! She was called to be with her Marky (Mark) and went to heaven shortly after his passing. We love you so much Mom!!
Public calling hours will be held for both Mark J. Forsthoefel and Beth Forsthoefel on Friday March 18th, 2022 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM at Dunn-Quigley Funeral home in Stow, OH (3333 Kent Road) and a Celebration of Life will be posted and held at a later date. See Mark’s and Beth’s Book of Memories at www.dunn-quigley.com