This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Author: TCMitten Surnames: Classification: obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.rootsweb.com/localities.northam.usa.states.wisconsin.counties.shawano/17227/mb.ashx Message Board Post: St. Petersburg Times (FL) - December 16, 1989 Deceased Name: Maryalice M. Laforest, 69, founder of Stock Pot school ST. PETERSBURG - Maryalice M. Laforest, who operated the Stock Pot, a kitchen boutique and cooking school on Central Avenue, died Thursday (Dec. 14, 1989) in a nursing home at Shawano, Wis. She was 69. >From 1975 to 1980, Mrs. Laforest, a graduate of the Cordon Bleu and La Varenne cooking schools in Paris, taught the fundamentals of continental cooking to hundreds of Pinellas County residents. She also conducted tours of cooking schools and famous restaurants in France and Italy, where she had lived for eight years. For several years before opening the Stock Pot, she taught French and Italian cooking in her home to students at St. Petersburg Junior College. Stricken by emphysema, she retired in 1980 and the Stock Pot was closed. Last year, she moved from her Treasure Island home to Shawano to be near a daughter. The cause of her death was not announced. Maryalice McElmurry Laforest was born in Morehouse, Mo., and grew up near St. Louis. She attended Harris Teachers College and worked in the St. Louis office of the Fidelity and Casualty Co. of New York. Until her marriage, she never had cooked, according to a 1976 interview. But that changed after 1942 when she married Thomas J. Laforest, a Navy officer. She traveled with him, tasting the food of many nations, and her experiences led her to undertake formal instruction in cooking. ''In Washington, D.C,'' she said in the interview, ''my husband was foreign liaison officer for Naval Intelligence, in contact with 108 countries. So naturally I got a lot of authentic recipes.'' In 1970, she moved to Treasure Island and she and her husband later divorced. She was a member of the Treasure Island Tennis and Yacht Club. She belonged to St. John's Catholic Church of St. Petersburg Beach. Mrs. Laforest was a past president of the St. Petersburg Branch of the International Food and Wine Society. Survivors include two daughters, Lorena Anne Laforest, Mill Valley, Calif., and Linda Marie Bleser, Shawano; six grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews. Born-Swedberg Funeral Home, Shawano, is in charge of arrangements. Services will be today. - Some of the information in this obituary came from a story by the late Dick Bothwell of the St. Petersburg Times. Important Note: The author of this message may not be subscribed to this list. If you would like to reply to them, please click on the Message Board URL link above and respond on the board.