Charles P. Forbes

Charles Phinney Forbes, 83, died peacefully on Tuesday, October 17, 2023 in hospice care at Sinai Hospital. His sons, Craig and Jay were with him when he passed.

Charles was born on October 5, 1940 in St. Louis, Missouri. The son of James H. Forbes and Muriel Forbes. He was the third of three sons of Muriel. He attended John Burrows High School, graduating in 1958. He then graduated from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.

He attended graduate school at the American University in Beirut, while teaching English as a Second Language. While in Beirut he met Marilyn Forbes, a second grade teacher at the American Community School. They were married in Elizabethtown in August of 1966.

In 1970 Charles and Marilyn returned home, living in Elizabethtown, where their first son, Craig, was born. They then moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he completed his Ph.D. at University of Michigan. Here their second son, Jay, was born. They then moved to Minneapolis; Washington, D.C.; finally settling in Timonium, Maryland, where he was an Education Specialist for the Army at Aberdeen Proving Ground.

For the next fifty-three years he was father to his two sons, loving husband of Marilyn, and an active member of the Govans Presbyterian Church community. He served as the clerk of session, archivist and was the Stated Clerk of the Presbytery of Baltimore.

In retirement he enjoyed working on his two passion projects: researching the genealogy of his extended family and researching and documenting the history of Star Lake, Wisconsin on his website www.starlake.org. His family has vacationed in Star Lake since 1908. He first visited as an infant and enjoyed summers there with his family nearly every summer since. He enjoyed his final summer in 2023 in one of his favorite places surrounded by much of his extended family.

Charles and Marilyn loved to travel: their honeymoon took them to Iceland, Greenland, and Europe. He made the “round the world” trip in 1971 with Marilyn and their son, Craig, and since has visited every continent except Antarctica and every US state.

Charles’s brothers are James McKelvey, and Robert McKelvey, both deceased. He is survived by his two sons, Craig and his wife Gretchen (Stukey), of Madison, Wisconsin, and Jay and his wife Sarah (Eastman), of Finksburg, Maryland; and four grandchildren Cory and Ryan of Madison, and Jeremy and Rachel of Finksburg.

A Memorial Service is planned at Govans Presbyterian Church for December 30, 2023. Charles will be buried in the community cemetery in Star Lake, Wisconsin.

Charles will be remembered by his family and friends as a thoughtful, loving, husband, father, grandfather, brother and uncle. He was able to be on his own working on his projects until the end as he always wanted. He is now reunited with Marilyn and rests peacefully.