Vicki Forrester

Vicki Rae Forrester was born April 15, 1945, in Stewartville, Minnesota, to Myrtle and Harold Gronert.

Vicki graduated from LeRoy Ostrander High School in 1963, and attended one quarter of college at Winona State. She married Keith Forrester on Sept. 19, 1964, in LeRoy, Minnesota. Vicki did secretarial work for many years but at age 49 she found her true calling in massage therapy. Vicki had her own business in her home called Gentle Touch Massage Therapy for Women from 1994 through 2013. She also became a Reiki practitioner (energy healing) and loved doing both massage and Reiki for her clients.

Her hobbies included reading, watching movies, shopping and chatting with people. At age 62, she took drawing lessons weekly from artist Millie Conard. Drawing became very important to her and she spent many hours learning from Millie and practicing on her own. She started doing watercolor painting and acrylic painting on rocks. Knitting and crocheting were fun for her also. She made many scarves and purses.

Vicki tried to have God first in her life, then family and friends.

On Feb. 25, 2022, Vicki was diagnosed with melanoma cancer which metastasized very quickly to stage 4. This shocked her and her life changed to lots of doctor appointments and immunotherapy treatment every three weeks.

Vicki died Aug. 24, 2022. Now, she has her many questions about heaven answered. “To God be the glory.”

Vicki was preceded in death by her parents, Harold and Myrtle Gronert; in-laws Loren and Margaret Forrester; son Norman Henschel; brother-in-laws Bud Waydeman and Loren “Verne” Forrester.

She is survived by her husband of almost 58 years, Keith Forrester; daughter Kris (David) Vereecken; sons Adam (Linda Goodman) Forrester and Nathan Forrester; grandchildren Deke (Katie) Vereecken and Kaci Vereecken; sister Karen Waydeman; many nieces, nephews and friends.

Memorial Service: 11 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 27, Calvary Lutheran Church in Alexandria. Visitation begins at 10 a.m. at the church. The service will be live streamed for those unable to attend.

Memorials preferred to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.