Obituary: Vera Moats Forcellini of Belmont

[Editor's Note: The following is a posting from Legacy.com.]

Vera Moats Forcellini June 19, 1913 - May 28, 2013

Vera peacefully sailed away to a beautiful place to be reunited with her beloved husband, Bob Forcellini, on Tuesday night, May 28, 2013, just short of her 100th birthday. Her loving son, Robert McKeen, was with her at the time.

Vera was born June 19, 1913 in a little homestead farmhouse at the foot of the Snowie Mountains in central Montana. Her parents, William Kent and Charlotte Rickels Moats had come from Eastern Iowa to homestead with other family members north of Lavina, MT, in western Musselshell County. She was the first child born to the homesteaders who had come to settle in what was to become known as Clara Flats. Vera was joined later by her baby brother, Lloyd, who was born in 1917. After a year of home schooling, Vera attended the little country Clara school. 

World War I had come during this time, and there had been a lot of good and bad times for the homesteaders. The good were wonderful times with socials and church services in the hall and picnics and fishing in the lakes in the Snowies. The bad times were sometime droughts and infestations of worms and grasshoppers, and the flue epidemic of 1918. After the War, the wheat prices fell, and the droughts became more intense. The George and Kent Moats families and the Hank Rickels family went back to Iowa where Vera's sister, Maxine, was born in 1922.

Vera's family settled down in the small farming community of Center Junction about 25 miles east of Cedar Rapids. Here, Vera attended the schools and graduated from Center Junction High School in 1931. She excelled in school and was on the girl's basketball team which won the county championship in 1930-1931. After her graduation, she attended Iowa State Teacher's College in Cedar Falls. She went on to teach in rural schools first through eighth grades during the thirties until she met and married her first husband, Gilbert McKeen, who had a young son, Charles. 

The family decided to go to Montana where Vera's parents and sister, Maxine, had gone back at an earlier date. They went to Lincoln, NE first where Gil had lived and had family and where Robert was born. Brother, Lloyd, followed later with his new wife. Gil and Vera with the two children finally settled on a ranch south of the small community of Cushman where Gil had secured the job of ranch manager. Vera had secured a position as the school teacher at the Cushman school (a one room school) where she was able to take her four year old son, Robert with her and establish a pre-school with a couple of other children in the community. Charles was her third grade student. This was during the last two years of World War II.

 Eventually, her marriage ended. Vera left the two boys with her parents who had a ranch west of Roundup, MT. Her sister brought her to California in order to regain her health and get her life back together so she could go on and support herself and the two boys.

She returned to Montana to secure a job teaching again, but the situation changed, and she returned to California. Later she met her second husband, Bob Forcellini, who was to study at the local college to obtain his contractor's license. He became a well-known General Contractor who built beautiful homes and other buildings in San Mateo County. His first project was the family home in the Belmont Hills overlooking the San Francisco Bay. Vera ran the office of the Forcellini Construction Company until Bob's retirement in the early 1990s.

 Bob and Vera were active in the Carlmont Methodist Church where in the 1950s they lead the youth fellowship which included her son, Rob. Vera also taught Sunday school and Bob was on the board. In the early 1990s, the Carlmont church became a completely Tongan church. They with others transferred to Hillsdale United Methodist Church.

Bob and Vera had a long successful marriage. They worked to give son, Rob, good guidance and love that nurtured him to become a deeply caring and spiritual person. Bob and Vera enjoyed life greatly with a lot of traveling back to Montana, and even took a memorable trip to the Orient in the early 1970s. Their one special love was to spend time at their little place in Old Station, CA, 15 miles north of Lassen Park.

They spent time fishing, barbecuing and playing Kings Corner, a card game, with family and friends. Their son, Rob, loves this place as well, and finds great solace in the mountains that surround the cabin. They also spent time traveling to southern California to visit sister, Maxine and family for family get-togethers.

In July of 1994, Bob died of a massive heart attack. Vera's son, Rob, took on the task of helping his Mom so she could continue living in her home. During the later years, Vera and Rob continued to go to the cabin, take trips to southern California, and even spent Vera's 85th birthday in Billings, MT, with Charles and family and other family members and friends. 

In early 2002, after the passing of her sister, Vera fell in her home and injured herself. It was decided that she could no longer live alone and her son, Rob, returned home from San Francisco to live with her. In 2003, Rob feted his Mother with a surprise 90th birthday party at the Villa with 65 family and friends celebrating with her. They also took two trips back to Iowa in 2006 and 2008 for Rickels' family reunions.

In late 2007, Vera, with Rob's help, established the Vera Forcellini Scholarship Fund through the Hillsdale United Methodist Church, which helps young people in the church go to college and which has helped in the last five years disadvantaged students in Tonga go to high school. The fund also helps with camps and training experiences. This Scholarship Fund is Vera's legacy and will continue

 
On Easter Sunday of 2009, Vera suffered a break in her left femur due to Osteoporosis. She endured a six hour surgery and a two-month stay in the hospital and skilled nursing. After this, Vera was wheel chair bound, but she continued to live a fruitful life remaining in her own home with her son, Rob. Rob had engaged a home care agency to provide people to help him in the care of his Mother. Vera continued to spend her last years enjoying friends and family members visiting. She was able to attend church functions, especially the yearly scholarship fundraiser combined with a birthday celebration for her. She read a great deal and also enjoyed many outings, but she loved being able to sit in her recliner and look out her big picture window at the beautiful San Francisco Bay view she had enjoyed for so many, many years. Up until a short while before her passing, she retained her sweet smile, the twinkle in her eyes and her humor.

Besides her parents, Vera was preceded in death by her brother, Lloyd, sister, Maxine, and her step-son, Charles McKeen.

She is survived by her son, Robert McKeen, his daughter, Carla Hart of Hawaii and her three children and one grandchild, Charles' wife, Doris, and 10 children and their families, Vera's nieces and nephews, Katherine, Tom, Kent, Arleen, Louise, Corine, Dick, Tim, Lisa and their families, and a special cousin Corrine, other extended family and many good friends including devoted friend, Lois Carter.

A memorial service will be held at Hillsdale United Methodist Church, 303 West 36th Avenue, San Mateo, CA on June 15, at 11:00A.M.

All donations in Vera's memory will go to the Vera Forcellini Scholarship Fund.