Nancy J. Forfia, 80, of Kingsville, Ohio, made a peaceful transition from her human experience with her daughter and son at her side. She entered her new spiritual life on the morning of Monday, February 13, 2023, after a short illness.

Nancy was a born teacher. She started her career at the age of four in her East Cleveland neighborhood, when her mother set up a chalkboard and small chairs in the backyard. Even as a small child, Nancy was an engaged teacher for the neighborhood children, and her love of learning and teaching others continued throughout her long life. When Nancy and her family left East Cleveland, they settled in Rock Creek, Ohio. Nancy continued her work as an educator, when her dad adaptatively reused the family’s 4-seater outhouse, nailing down the seats, to create a tiny one-room schoolhouse. Although the tiny schoolhouse was ultimately lost to a 1950’s Halloween prank where it ended up on the lawn of the county courthouse, Nancy did not let that stop her teaching career.

After graduating as valedictorian of her 1960 class—a lifelong source of pride—she enrolled in Kent State University at Ashtabula. After only two years of college, she accepted a teaching position with the Jefferson Area Local Schools, teaching first grade at Rock Creek Elementary School. Nancy ultimately finished her teaching degree, graduating from Lake Erie College, and began a new adventure as an elementary Special Education teacher with the Willoughby-Eastlake City School District where she taught for nine years. After leaving the school system, Nancy began teaching preschool, first at the United Methodist Church in Geneva, Ohio, and then at Ashtabula County YMCA. In 1983, Nancy opened her own preschool, Kinder Academy, where she provided hundreds of Ashtabula County’s children with a strong academic foundation filled with pre-reading activities, art and music, nature walks, homemade playdough, and social-emotional learning. After 16 years, she closed Kinder Academy, and became a full-time substitute teacher for the Ashtabula City Schools, while tutoring children in math and reading at local libraries. After so many years of teaching, it was difficult for Nancy to go to any local grocery store, library, or event without running into someone whose life she had touched through her teaching. She would meet seniors who had been in her first-grade classes, middle-aged parents who thanked her for helping their now adult children become successful professionals, and young adults who remembered her from her years as a substitute teacher and patient tutor.

Nancy was a devoted wife and mother, who provided her family with the same love, support, and dedication that gave to her many students. In 1974, Nancy married Reverend Richard H. Forfia, a spiritualist minister and high school teacher with the Erie Public Schools. Her children, Angela and Anthony, were “the joys of her life,” and she provided them a childhood filled with all of the joys of growing up in Ashtabula—summer days at Walnut Beach, fishing for bluegill at local ponds, sledding in the winter, thrifting at Harbor Higbees, and many trips to local libraries. As her children grew up, Nancy supported them as they attended college and graduate school, traveled across the world and around the country, and established lives and families of their own. Nancy’s immense pride in her children’s accomplishments, and her support of her children’s very different journeys through life, was a tremendous gift. As she welcomed a son-in-law and a daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren, Nancy provided them with the same love and support. It was rare that a week went by without a card, letter, or care package filled with books, toys, clippings from The Star Beacon, and homemade worksheets to help her grandchildren identify leaves, solve crossword puzzles, or learn about Ashtabula history. Nancy was also a devoted pet parent to shelter dogs, Pepper and Sandy, and her beloved cat Fluffy who was her constant companion for 16 years, from her arrival as an abused stray kitten who discovered my mom’s porch to Fluffy’s death in 2019.

Nancy was a deeply spiritual person, who welcomed every morning with readings from The Daily Word and Science of Mind. Every room in her home was filled with affirmations of love, light, wholeness, and health, and her bookshelves were filled with New Thought texts, from her mother and her late husband. As the bumper sticker on her door declared, Nancy believed that we were spiritual beings having a human experience, and her deep faith carried her through many health and personal challenges in her life. Nancy was a 33-year breast cancer survivor and helped many other women as an American Cancer Society Reach to Recovery volunteer. She also participated in the Relay for Life walk for many years. In the past several years, Nancy overcame other health challenges through her faith and feistiness, never failing to speak her mind if she wasn’t receiving the care she needed. Nancy’s family would like to thank her many healthcare providers, in Ashtabula County and Cleveland, who allowed her to live a long and healthy life. We are especially grateful to Hospice of the Western Reserve and the healthcare team of UH Conneaut Medical Center where she made her transition.

Although we know that she is living her new spiritual life, Nancy will be dearly missed in this one by her family, friends and neighbors, members of the Growing Up in Ashtabula Facebook page, and the many lives that she touched as a teacher, volunteer, and member of the Ashtabula community. She is survived by her two children: Angela Forfia (Larry Shure) of Chicago, Illinois; Anthony Forfia (Tracie) of Lyndhurst, Ohio; two grandchildren Felix Shure and Theo Shure of Chicago, Illinois; sister Joan Sisson (Roger) of Madison, Ohio; brother Russell Bolmeyer of Brooklyn, Ohio; as well as many nieces and nephews. She is predeceased by her parents, her brother and sister-in-law Raymond (Judy) Bolmeyer, and her husband, Rev. Richard H. Forfia.

Friends and Family will be received Monday, March 27th, from 3-5 p.m. at Behm Family Funeral Home, 26 River Street in Madison with a Celebration of Life immediately following at 5 pm. A private family Committal and Celebration of her New Life will be at Alexander Harper Cemetery the following day. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Unity of Edinboro (https://www.unityinedinboro.org/,) Hospice of the Western Reserve (https://www.hospicewr.org/Ways-to-Give) or Kids in Flight (https://kidsinflight.org/.)  Online obituary and condolences may be viewed at www.behmfuneral.com