Helen Forgey

At the Grace-filled age of 102, Helen Marie Forgey died peacefully on March 22, 2022. She was surrounded by so much love throughout her life and at the time of her death.

Helen was born on October 10, 1919, to Charles and Lulu Downham Martin in Washington Township, Carroll County, where she lived for the entirety of her full and beautiful life. She married her sweetheart Morris Wayne Forgey on August 24, 1941. They grew up next to each other on adjoining farms and were in the same class all 12 years at Deer Creek Schools. Helen and Wayne were married for 71 years until Wayne passed in September, 2012, and after ten years without him, Helen was quite ready to be reunited with her beloved husband in Heaven.

Their lives together were dedicated to family, farming, church and country. When Wayne left home during WWII to join the war effort in the United States Navy, Helen stayed behind and worked tirelessly to hold down the fort like so many strong and courageous women of her time. After the war ended, Helen and Wayne contributed to the booming population of Deer Creek with the births of their three children Joe, Dianne and Gary. Helen loved her hometown and worked to meaningfully contribute to her community throughout her life.

Helen never shied away from hard work. In fact, she looked for it, created it, embraced it and was committed to it until her final years. A typical day for Helen was chock full of purpose and service. She was always the first to rise in the morning, found happily making eggs and bacon for her family before they would head out to work on the farm. Sometime after breakfast, she would hoe the garden, pick fresh green beans, peas, corn and radishes and maybe even pull the head off of a chicken or two, plucking the feathers by hand to prepare the meat for the frying pan. Dinner and supper consisted of iced tea, fresh vegetables, fried chicken and homemade pie all prepared with her loving hands. Helen was doing the farm to table thing before it was even a thing!

Helen could also be found doing seamstress work at Bailey’s and J Adkins clothing stores or at one of her four sewing machines at home. Whether it be working on bridesmaids dresses for someone’s wedding or taking pants in or letting them out, depending on people’s weight gain or loss, Helen’s hands were always busy doing for others. Regardless of how full her days were, she always found the time to make a casserole for someone from church who was going through a rough time. Her selflessness, generosity and caring nature, especially for others in their time of need, is an important part of Helen’s vast legacy.

Ahead of her time in many ways, Helen mastered being a working mom of three who also took care of all of the things at home. She loved to have her own “pocket money” from sewing and working at stores and was notorious for using her own money to spruce things up around the house. In fact, she was the one who paid to build their house!

Helen was also very involved with the 4 H Club in Deer Creek where she was both a leader and a judge. Many hours were spent sharing both her baking and seamstress skills (as she truly was a master at both) to the children of Deer Creek. Additionally, she was active in Extension Homemakers as a member of the Double Dozen Home Ec Club and served as county president and Kokomo District Representative (over 8 counties). She had a great passion for her work and truly loved to share her gifts with others.

Her nature was gentle and her spirit was resilient. Her smile was so kind and her tenaciousness was unmatched. Her tenderness was so sincere and to feel her love was to be blessed beyond. She loved her family dearly and especially loved the children deeply. She was always the first one to get down on the floor and play Uno and Dominos with any of her 14 grandchildren and 23 great grandchildren even into her late 90s, her eyes twinkling as others looked on in bewilderment at her agility and strength. Forever a fierce competitor, she was always up for a game and loved to continue to play Uno and Dominos and also balloon volleyball with fly-swatters and Wii Bowling while living at McKinney Place. She was quite the elegant fashionista, always dressing sharp and she had this charming way of saying “good night” when she heard something that was unbelievable to her that will forever make her family smile.

Helen spent the final few years of her life at McKinney Place in Logansport. Her family credits the unbelievably tender and loving care that she received while living at McKinney Place with filling her final years with an unparalleled amount of goodness, love and happiness. Everyone at McKinney Place went above and beyond to fill her days with love and joy and her family is deeply grateful to them for the care that she received there.

The family would also like to extend a heartfelt thank you to PhysioCare Hospice and the care they provided over the past several months.

Helen thoroughly enjoyed her life and even with all of its gleeful ups and painful downs, Helen chose to be happy. Her life was as full as it was long and her legacy will continue to bless the lives of all who knew her and loved her.

She was a wonderful mother.

She was a wonderful grandmother.

She was a wonderful great-grandmother.

She will be loved and missed deeply.

A celebration of life will be held at 3:00 PM on Sunday, March 27, 2022 in the Deer Creek Presbyterian Church in Deer Creek, Indiana, with Pastor Paul Marcellino officiating. Burial will follow in the Deer Creek Hopewell Cemetery.

Visitation will be held from 1:00 PM until the time of service on Sunday, also in the Church.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to the Carroll County Food Pantry.

You may sign Helen’s guestbook and leave condolences for her family at www.gundrumcares.com .