Obituary of Hugh Hogg Forsyth

Hugh Hogg Forsyth passed into glory on April 15, 2018 at Bayfront Suncoast Hospice after

complications from a fall and broken hip. He was born at home in Donora, Pennsylvania on

November 10, 1928. He was preceded in death by his mother Mary Jane “Mae” Hogg Forsyth

of Northern Ireland, father John Forsyth of Scotland, and sister Elizabeth “Bet” Delaney

Forsyth of Huntingdon, PA. He also lost two wives to cancer, Flora Joyce Martin Forsyth

(2000) and Virginia Ardell Butler Thomas Forsyth (2012). Hugh leaves behind two children:

Skip (Kathy) Forsyth of Tallahassee, and Kathy Jane (Walter “Mickey”) Eustis of St. Petersburg;

seven grandchildren: Rebekah (Matt) Goodner, Emily Eustis (Clif Turner), Anna Eustis, David

Eustis, Andrew Forsyth, Christine (Jesse) Diaz, and Joanna Forsyth. His great grandchildren

are Nathan, Daniel and Isabella Goodner; Kinsley and Elliana Turner; and Trent Peterson – all

who loved him dearly and enjoyed spending time with him. It is impossible to stop counting

Hugh’s “family” here, though. Bobbi Parker was his daughter, and she was with him to the

end. Natalie Shelley (Hakon Estevez) and baby Octavia Estevez knew him as Granddaddy as

well. His step-daughter Deb Still Allen and her children Tim and Chrissy all enjoyed having him

in their lives for the ten years he was married to Ardell before her passing in 2012. There are

many more who called him Dad and Granddaddy, including, but not limited to: April Mosley,

and Julie Menges.

Hugh was a first generation American and a Scottish Presbyterian through and through. He

was the family Chieftain and loved to listen to bagpipes and attend the Scottish Games in

Dunedin. He also accompanied his father on two separate trips to the “Old Country” in the

1980s, and enjoyed meeting relatives, golfing and exploring his family’s roots there.

Hugh had a great sense of humor and leaves his family with a matter-of-fact and humorous

take on growing up in the Great Depression in Donora. He had a strong sense of service, duty,

and patriotism, illustrated by eating a bunch of bananas in order to weigh enough to be

accepted for service into the army in 1946.

Upon completing his service to his country, Hugh was the first in his family to attend and

graduate from college, Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, where he met and

married (1952) Flora Joyce Martin of Gastonia, North Carolina. Hugh and Joyce had 48 loving

years together. Son Skip was born during their time in Greenville (1953), after which Hugh

was accepted into the Masters Social Work Program at the University of Pittsburgh in the fall

of 1955. He completed his graduate studies and received his MSW in 1957 and accepted a

position as a social worker at the Baptist Children’s Home in Roanoke, Virginia, where Kathy

Jane was born in 1958.

In 1960, Hugh accepted a social work position at the United Presbyterian (UP) Home for

Children in Mars, Pennsylvania (just north of Pittsburgh). The Home was a mission of the

United Presbyterian Women’s Association of Pennsylvania. In 1962, he was appointed as the

Superintendent of the Home where he became the father of hundreds of boys and girls, from

kindergarten through high school ages, over the next five years. His deep and quiet Christian

faith underpinned his firm but fair approach to childrearing, staff supervision, and leadership.

Joyce managed the clothes closet and spent time with any child or youth who wanted

someone to listen. He has many “sons and daughters” from his time at the UP Home.

Wherever they lived, Hugh and Joyce were active in their church. In Mars, Hugh served as an

Elder and Sunday school teacher, and occasionally filled the pulpit at Valencia United

Presbyterian Church, just a few miles from the UP Home.

Lingering injuries from a car crash in 1963 eventually led to a move to St. Petersburg, Florida,

in 1965, where Hugh was offered a position as a Family Counselor at the Family and Children

Services on 22nd Avenue South. He counseled couples and families, but preferred to work with

children. Once when he was having a difficult time getting a middle school age boy to open

up, he brought two gloves and a baseball to the session and invited the boy to a game of

catch in the building’s side yard. The distraction of tossing the ball loosened up the

conversation and progress was made, at least with the boy. Other therapists, however,

complained that the distraction of the tossed ball outside their windows was not helping their

client conversations, so Hugh had to bring the sessions back inside. Luckily the ice had been

broken and the therapeutic progress continued with the boy.

The family spent several years at Fifth Avenue Baptist Church in the late 60s. Hugh served as

Elder and Sunday School Superintendent. He also played on the church’s slow pitch softball

team. Once, he played in a game after promising Joyce he would not play because of an

injury. His name ended up in the paper because of being the catcher of a perfect game that

night. Boy, was he in trouble! He is the only person on record for having accomplished the

feat.

Hugh then served as an Elder and Sunday school teacher at Maximo Presbyterian Church in the

1970s. He was part of a group that under Reverend Lacy Harwell began the School for

Christian Living. Out of this, Reverend Harwell and a group of members recognized the great

need for treatment services for heroin addicts in Pinellas County. Together they organized the

Drug Rehabilitation Center and received a federal grant to start operations. It was the first

residential program in the area. Hugh was the first Director and brought his strong, but

unobtrusive, faith and a group approach to the therapeutic community model of addiction

treatment. There was great success as well as devastating losses with a population of great

need. DRC eventually became the therapeutic community for Operation PAR.

After the organizational transition of DRC, Hugh worked for Catholic Social Services and

helped with Vietnamese resettlement in Pinellas County.

During these years. Hugh and Joyce spent much time helping those who had need. They took

four different young women into their home. Both Skip and Kathy were taught to be tolerant

and accepting of everyone, no matter their background or circumstances. Generosity,

wrapped in tough love at times, was also established as a model to live a Christian life.

Then, in 1976, Hugh accepted a social work position, and then became Executive Director at

the Florence Crittendon Home on 9th Street South where he helped them to transition from a

“home for unwed mothers” to a residential group home for girls: the Young Women’s

Residence, currently called Brookwood. Joyce worked intimately with the girls there also,

again managing the clothing room and making sure every girl had a stuffed animal on her bed

when she arrived at the house. Joyce and Hugh, along with staff volunteers, took the girls

who had no where else to go, to Disney World every year on Christmas Day. They made many

other sacrifices in order to meet the needs of the girls and staff. Hugh hired Pam Mesmer as

the Social Worker. She took over as the Director when Hugh retired in 1992 and is still in the

position today. Hugh has many “daughters” from his time at YWR.

In his retirement, Hugh made an extended trip to Scotland alone. Then, in 1997, Joyce agreed

to accompany him on a trip “across the pond.” He came home and made a scrapbook of that

trip. Joyce and Hugh made trips to other more local places over the eight years they had

together in retirement. They also spent as much time with their grandchildren as possible.

Together, they also continued to serve as a volunteer social workers for many people.

Joyce passed away on June 6, 2000. Hugh was by her side as she valiantly fought breast

cancer. He was devastated and lost without her.

So, in 2001, he went to Scotland, again! In fact he was caught in the air over the Atlantic

Ocean on 9/11/2001 and spent some time in Canada before being allowed back into the U.S.

Someone who was concerned about him on 9/11 was Ardell Butler Thomas. Ardell and Hugh

had both gone to Donora High School and re-met at a class reunion. They became email pals

and as a retired RN she became a sounding board for him as he cared for Joyce. In 2001 Hugh

invited Ardell to St. Pete (from Illinois!) for a date to a dinner theater. A year later, in

December 2002, they were married. Both became ardent Tampa Bay Rays fans, though Hugh

was never much of a fan of Joe Madden’s management style. He stayed active with softball

until he was close to 80. Then, He and Ardell made a trip to Ireland and Scotland in 2004. It

took them three years to scrapbook that trip - there are four volumes!

In 2012, Ardell lost her battle to pancreatic cancer. Again, Hugh was faithfully by her side

until the end.

After Ardell’s death, Hugh’s next roommate was his granddaughter, Anna Eustis. They had a

great time rooming together for about eight months. He made one more trip, this time across

a different ocean, to Hawaii. It was a surprise visit with Kathy to see his granddaughter

Rebekah, her husband Matt and son Nathan in April 2013 as they served in the US Army. He

thoroughly enjoyed seeing Pearl Harbor and Matt was able to arrange taking him on the

Admiral’s Tour of the Arizona as well as the Missouri. It was another thrill of his life!

In the fall of 2013, he had an opportunity to move to Westminster Suncoast community in

south St. Pete. He spent the past four and a half years living there.

The family would like to thank many who have helped care for him, including Westminster

Suncoast Assisted Living, Dr. Lorna Fountain and staff at Family Health Center, Seminole

Pavilion Rehab at Freedom Square and Empath Suncoast Hospice at Bayfront.

There is more to be said. A memorial service will be held for Hugh at Maximo Presbyterian

Church at 2:00 PM, on June 9, 2018. No flowers, please. Donations may be given to Suncoast

Hospice. Make a donation online or mail your check payable to: Suncoast Hospice

Foundation, 5771 Roosevelt Blvd., Clearwater, FL 33760.

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