Thelma Irene FornerRedding, CAThelma Irene Forner, 88, passed peacefully at her home in Enterprise a little after 3:00 A.M. on March 10, 2017, surrounded by her children, with her beloved cat, Pumpkin in her lap.Thelma was born on May 29, 1928, to Helen and Tobe Carter, in Weed, California. She spent her school years both in Weed and Southern Oregon graduating from Klamath High School in 1946. She was the youngest of seven children. She was briefly married in the mid-1940s and had a child, Michael. Later, when she was a single mother working as a waitress at Klamath Billiards in Klamath Falls, Oregon, a handsome young Italian showed up and proposed to her on the spot. She brushed him off, repeatedly, until she finally relented. On September 23rd, 1950, Thelma married her forever husband, Pete. They bought a house in Enterprise in 1951, where they had three children, Nick, Maryann, and Melissa. Pete passed away in November of 2005.Thelma leaves 13 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren as well as countless friends. Through the years the Forner house had been a second home for neighbor kids which Thelma always welcomed, and she was always ready to suspend whatever she was doing at the time to sit down for coffee with a neighbor, many of whom felt at home enough to walk in without knocking.She worked for the Enterprise School District for 30 years as the cafeteria administrator, and at Prince James clothing, many of those years working both jobs at the same time.Thelma, was a woman equally at home with her hands dirty in the garden, polishing a jewelry counter, outfitting a child with the perfect style, performing inventory in a freezer, crushing a spin class, or just listening and giving perfect motherly advice.Services will be held at 11 A.M. on March 18, 2017, at the Trinity Lutheran Church, 2440 Hilltop Drive, Redding. A gathering will be held at the church following services. Please sign the guest book at http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/redding/