Barbara "Bobbie" Reichert

Barbara “Bobbie” Suzanne Forcum Reichert, 78, passed away on Monday, July 22, 2024, at her home. Bobbie used to say she was “Carolina born, and Carolina bred”, and when she died, she'd be “Carolina dead.” When she said “Carolina,” she meant only one thing, UNC. A Winston-Salem native, she was born in the old City Hospital and raised in the Southside neighborhood near South Park School along with her sister, Kathy (Messer). Their father, Robert “Bob” Forcum, owned a Shell service station, while their mother, Meredith “Mert”, ran the snack bar at Sears. A 1964 graduate of Gray High School, she went on to the recently opened Forsyth Memorial Hospital School of Nursing earning her RN in 1967. Little did she know at the time, she would spend the next 44 years of her life there as a staff nurse, head nurse, nursing coordinator, and nurse manager in ICU, CCU, the Cath Lab and OSC. Later, when the job required it, she went on to earn a BSN from the University of Phoenix at age 61! An exceptionally skilled nurse, she could be demanding but expected nothing of others she was not willing to give herself, leading by example. One night at a party, a neurosurgeon with whom she butted heads in ICU pulled her husband aside and said, “Don’t ever tell her this, but she is unquestionably the finest nurse I have ever worked with!” Care for others defined her, be they her children Chad and Amanda or her four grandchildren on whom she doted, Eero, Ella, Callie and Bryce. She met her husband Kent on a blind date arranged by two members of her church, who told him they had found him a wife who had “…a color TV, a living room suite and a car that was almost paid for!” That was New Years Eve 1969 and their marriage in 1970 lasted 54 years until her passing. Bobbie is survived by her sister, husband, children and grandchildren, as well as her daughter-in-law, Dottie Northup Reichert, and son-in-law, Ben Brown. A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, July 30, 2024, at Augsburg Lutheran Church, 845 W. Fifth St., Winston-Salem, with Rev. Paul Wollner and Rev. Joe Yucha officiating. Burial will immediately follow the service at Parklawn Memorial Park. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service at the church. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Christ’s Beloved Community Food Pantry, www.belovedws.org or greenNest www.greenestws.org