Thea Bell Forsyth

Thea was born to Mary and William Hudson on January 24, 1919 and raised in Cardston, Alberta, Canada. She was next to the youngest of 7 children....4 boys and 3 girls. She completed the 11th grade in school.

Thea considered her family poor. Her mom sold pies to restaurants and her dad was a carpenter. Her parents never had a car so the family walked wherever they needed to go. They lived in an area of Cardston known as "poverty flats". When Thea's mother needed something from the store she would send Thea because she knew it wouldn't take her long to return with what was needed. She usually ran wherever she went.

Growing up, the family bathed once a week in a galvanized tub all using the same water, starting with the oldest, so she was next to last. They pumped water from their well and heated the water on the stove. Their home didn't have electricity so they used kerosene lamps, and their bathroom was an outhouse. Her mom had 2 or 3 flat irons which were pieces of iron she heated on the stove to iron clothes. In the winter the kids sleeping together would heat one of the flat irons and take it to bed to keep warm. Their home didn't have insulation, and their mattress was a straw tick, which was a bunch of straw that was changed every fall.

As a child for fun they played catch over the house... one person threw a ball over the house and the person on the other side tried to catch it, hopscotch, hide-and-seek, foot races, and anything fun they could think of. When they had foot races, Thea was usually the winner.

To earn money in her teenage years Thea worked one summer away from home doing housework and taking care of kids. For a couple of summers she and Alice (her sister) picked strawberries to earn money.

At 19 she got a job in Cardston at the Cahoon Hotel washing dishes. Shortly after she started she began waiting tables and worked there for a couple of years before she married Charles. She made about $30 a month working full time.

Thea met Charles one night after a dance when D.R. (Charles' brother) and Alice (Thea's sister) took her home. Charles and his date were with them. Charles started dating Thea shortly after that and about 2 years later they were married on Charles family's ranch. D.R. and Alice were married a year before Charles and Thea, so brothers married sisters. The two families were close throughout their married lives and did many things together.

Charles and Thea lived on the family ranch in a two room home (kitchen and bedroom) that Charles built before they got married. They moved into the big house on the ranch a couple years later after D.R. and Alice moved into Cardston. They lived on the ranch for about seven years.

Charles farmed wheat, oats and barley, and had cows, pigs and chickens. They milked cows and sold the cream to the creamery in Cardston for their spending money. Thea kept track of where their cream money went and it was fun to compare costs with today's prices.., dentist $3, permanent for Thea, $3.50, 2 movie tickets $.70, 2 pops & cookies $.83, candy $.42.

Their 2 children (Danny and Sandra) were born while they lived on the ranch. When Danny was about 2 they were on their way home from town one night when a hose on the car split. Steam came out from under the hood and scared Thea so bad she jumped out of the car while it was going and incurred hand and knee abrasions. The doctor told her her knees would bother her the rest of her life, and they did.

Danny started 1st grade in Cardston. There were no school buses so he would spend the school week in town with his Grandma and Grandpa Hudson, and Charles and Thea would see him whenever they got to town. That was the main reason they decided to relocate.

They moved to Spokane, WA, in November, 1948, and bought their first home on Barker Road in the Spokane Valley where they lived for six years. They then had a home built (Thea & Danny worked alongside the builder a lot of the time). They lived there for 56 years. Charles at age 94 and Thea at 91 decided keeping up the home and yard was getting to be too much so sold it and moved to Sullivan Park Retirement community in 2011.

Thea never got her driver's license. She drove their truck in Cardston a few times. The one time she drove after moving to Spokane she met an oncoming car on the narrow Barker road bridge that scared her, so she just stopped in the middle of the bridge. That was the first and last of her driving in the states. She made sure when her kids were old enough they got their driver's license. She said she didn't want them to be like her.

She was a homemaker and a very good one... an excellent cook, baker, and housekeeper. The only time Thea worked outside of the home was for about a month in a cannery in the Spokane Valley with a neighbor. Thea took care of their home, yard and garden for many years when Charles worked out of town and was just home on weekends. Sandra remembers what a good feeling it was coming home from school and her mom always there, and recalls the few times when she wasn't home that it wasn't a good feeling. One of the things Thea really enjoyed making was bread which she did until in her mid 90's. When the family would go to Canada she would always bring back some Canadian flour because she said it made much better bread. Thea could always find something wrong with whatever she made... nobody else could though. Chad would always tell her if there's something wrong with what she made he wanted her to give it to him, especially her bread. You wouldn't find store bought bread in their home very often. In the 74 years Thea and Charles were married she maybe bought a loaf of bread 5 times.. .she said with a smile "Charles wouldn't allow it"

Their son, Danny's death in 1978 was a blow to the family. He loved racing cars and was killed after his car malfunctioned at the drag races. It was especially hard on Thea and she said, "kids shouldn't go before their parents".

She did quite a bit of crocheting and some knitting, making afghans mostly. She and Charles worked in the church German extraction (genealogy) for 28 years. They went to the Stake Center several times a week to do German extraction, and eventually when the machines were in their home, they did it everyday. They were sad when the program was discontinued wondering what they would do in place of it.

Thea always loved Christmas... putting up her tree, baking goodies and making candy. She said it wouldn't seem like Christmas if she didn't make cookies, fruitcake, toffee and hand dipped chocolates. She did all of these things until she was 94 when her hands and strength wouldn't allow it. Thea really enjoyed her Christmas tree. She wanted her tree up as soon as possible and each year it got a little earlier. The last few years it was Halloween when Sandra put it up and it always stayed up until after the first of the year.

She had a stroke in 2011 at age 93, that affected her right side. From then on it was a challenge for her to do the things she used to do easily. She had always been an active and energetic person accomplishing much during the day. It was hard for her to accept the slow down the stroke caused, but she was always

positive and had a smile. Charles helped her a lot while he was here. A couple of her must do's, even after her stroke, was making their beds as soon as she got up, and doing the dishes as soon as she completed something in the kitchen. She never went to bed with dirty dishes in the sink (and she never used a dishwasher) or climbed into an unmade bed.

Thea's entertainment was TV She was a dedicated Seattle Marnier's baseball and Gonzaga basketball fan. Her niece, Ronna Lee McKinley who was very attentive to Thea, also followed them and they had fun conversations.

A good church friend, JoAnn Howard, watched a lot of the games with her too. Starting in 2014 if a Gonzaga game was on a channel they didn't get, Chad would call and have it added to their service so she could watch it. When Gonzaga played BYU Chad would always ask her if she was rooting for the Catholics or Mormons and she wouldn't usually say but she would laugh and we knew who she was partial to.

Thea had fallen 10 months prior to passing and she couldn't go back to her independent living cottage so she went to Sandra and Chad's home, against her will. She wanted to go to a nursing home because she said she would be too much to take care of and didn't want to be a burden. She was a blessing in our home.

She was always grateful for all who visited or did anything for her and never forgot to say "thank you". She was unselfish and devoted to her family, always positive and happy with a great laugh. She was very close to her sister, Alice, and when she passed away in 2009 it left a big hole. They spent a lot of time together, shopping and talking on the phone.

Thanksgiving 2022 Thea was able to have all but 1 of her immediate family around her, and she was grateful for that. Her words were, "I love all my family". Her mind was clear up to the end. She passed peacefully in Sandra and Chad's home on December 11, 2022 at age 103 with loved ones by her side. She was the last of her family's generation to leave so will have a great reunion on the other side with loved ones. She will be dearly thought of and missed!

Thea is survived by her daughter, Sandra and husband Chad Galloway, 4 grandchildren, Todd Peters (deceased) and wife Tonja and four children (1 deceased), Debra Hartshorn (Peters) and husband Joel and six children (1 deceased), Megan Kuehu (Peters) and husband Kaipo and three children, Shelley Fries (Forsyth) and two children, 15 great grandchildren, 4 great great grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews.