Mattie Lee Fornes, 96, retired guidance counselor from Albemarle High School, Charlottesville, Va., died Wednesday, June 1, 2005, at Bayview Nursing Center in New Bern, N.C.
She had been a long time resident of Charlottesville, Va.
She was born in 1908, Cleveland County, Shelby, N.C., and she was the youngest child of Ollie Hester Hamrick Gardner and James Monroe Gardner.
She graduated in 1932 from North Carolina State University with a B.A. degree in English, and in 1962, she received her Masters of Education degree from the University of Virginia.
During her teaching career, she taught in North Carolina and Virginia high schools.
Mattie Lee Fornes was an avid artist excelling in still life, landscape and portrait paintings. She also enjoyed collecting fine art and researching genealogy. She was an active member of several professional organizations, and she was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was a long time Sunday school teacher at University Baptist Church in Charlottesville, Va.
Mattie Lee Fornes was the wife of the late Gaston Graham Fornes.
Her survivors include three daughters, Jean F. Wendt of Midlothian, Va., Irene F. Kyser of Dade City, Fla., and Mollie F. Peery of New Bern, N.C.; seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.
Emily F. Dale, her eldest daughter, died in 1979.
Funeral services will be held on Monday, June 6, 2005, in Morehead City, N.C., with interment at Culpeper National Cemetery, Culpeper, Va.
Funeral arrangements are being made through the Munden Funeral Home, Morehead City, N.C.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the University of Virginia, Curry School of Education, 405 Emmet Street, Charlottesville, VA 22904.
Published in the Daily Progress from June 4 to June 5, 2005
Obituary submitted by Sam Clarke.
