Dona Maria Forte's Obituary
Dona Maria Forte was born on November 23,1931 in Parsons, Kansas to parents: William Luis Craig and Lessie (Ross) Craig. She moved to Santa Monica, California at age fifteen. Her dream was to study linguistics. She met and married Honorable US Navy Veteran Vernis Lloyd Forte in 1949, she had five children. Rene, Michael, Mark, John, and Maria, then pursued a career in Accounting while maintaining a passion for the piano that she had fostered from age four. While working for CIGNA, she became one of the first women to be granted a managerial position at the company which she excelled in for the next twenty years before retiring at age 56. She became a widow and later remarried to William Henry Richards, another Navy Veteran, and relocated to Huntington Beach California, and then Prescott Arizona.
She loved tending to her rose garden, she loved her family and friends, her Cats and dogs, and she loved to go to live performances of music and theater. She enjoyed fine wines, while Gevalia coffee and Swiss chocolates were among the delights you would find within her home. Which she would always generously offer to guests. She enjoyed In n Out cheeseburgers and their pink lemonades. She said "if she had all the money in the world she would eat all the bacon she wanted" as a child. She enjoyed coteur, interior decoration and travel. Having traveled with her husband Bill to numerous locations world wide. She would go on to survive her husband Bill as well as her two sons Michael and Mark.
In the twilight of her life she moved to Tucson Arizona, where she passed away at home in the care of her family on November 12, 2022.
She is survived by Children: Rene, John and Maria Forte, Stepson- David Richards, 12 Grandchildren, 2 Great-Grandchildren and 2 very spoiled Cats.
She maintained her passion for Music, Linguistics, and The Arts until the end of her life.
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