Betty Jo Forbes

Betty Jo Forbes passed away peacefully in her sleep August 4th 2024 after 6 weeks on hospice comfort care. A beloved only child, Betty Jo was born February 19th 1929 to Nicolas Rupp and Jean Partington Rupp. She grew up in the Bishop area riding her horse, fishing, reading books and learning how to entertain herself. She was simultaneously a people person who knew how to have fun and somewhat of an introvert. She credited her upbringing with making her comfortable spending a lot of time alone. However, she also loved socializing and had many friends throughout her life. Betty Jo graduated from Bishop High School in 1946. She attended the University of Nevada, Reno and in 1950, graduated with a bachelor’s degree and became a teacher. At UNR, she met the love of her life, Carl. They married shortly after she graduated. Betty Jo taught school in Reno until Carl graduated college and then they moved back to Bishop. Betty Jo taught school in Bishop until the birth of her first child. In 1963, they moved to Sacramento which remained her home for the rest of her life. Betty Jo had many hobbies and interests. During her college years, she joined Gamm Phi Beta and was active in the sorority most of her life. She loved to garden and putter in her yard and had a talent for arranging flowers. Betty Jo was involved in the Cerbral Paulsy Guild, Engineers Wives and later the group “Survivors of atomic Testing”. She loved attending musicals and theater as well as viewing art in museums near and far. She was a member of the Crocker Art museum and took many bus trips to San Francisco to view art at the De Young. Betty Jo also loved to play bridge and was in many bridge clubs over the years. Betty Jo and Carl loved to travel and had many adventures in Hawaii, Mexico, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tahiti with life long good friends. They also traveled in Europe and BJ would accompany Carl on business trips and see everything she could. Betty Jo and Carl had a big party in Reno to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary and friends came from all over to help celebrate. In 1979, Betty Jo accompanied Carl to Saudi Arabia when he accepted a job with Bechtel Corporation. It was a unique cultural experience that had a large impact on her. For the rest of her life, she would often talk about her time there. Sadly, Carl died after a long battle with melanoma and Betty Jo was devastated. After years of grieving and with the help of the friends of Bill W, Betty Jo recovered and moved on with her life. She began to travel again and had many adventures throughout the world. One of the most notably was a trip to Alaska and Siberia with Elder Hostel in 1992. She was a wonderful mother and adored and spoiled her grandchildren. Her home was the center of Forbes family gatherings where all the grandkids loved to go to be together, swim in the pool, watch cartoons and eat ice cream. It was a sad time when the house became too much for her and was sold in 2016. She did just about everything she wanted in her life and was proud to say she had no regrets. Until recently, she played scrabble on her iPad, read books and reminisced about her many adventures. Betty Jo had a wonderful sense of humor and taught us how to laugh at ourselves and not “sweat the small stuff”. She kept her sense of humor almost to the end. She will be greatly missed. Betty Jo is survived by her four children Elaine St. John (David) of Sebastopol, Nick Forbes (Cindy) of Sacramento, Mary Forbes (Stephen) of Kodiak AK, Scott Forbes (Sandra)of Carson City NV, eleven grandchildren, and ten great grandchildren. The family would like to thank the wonderful, kind and caring staff at the WaterLeaf at Land Park for their five years of care of our mother. We would also like to thank the dedicated staff of Sutter Hospital Hospice and their care of our mother through the final six weeks of her life. A celebration of life is to be determined. In lieu of flowers, please feel free to make a memorial donation to the American Cancer Society, the Laws Museum in Bishop or the charity of your choice.