It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved son, Evan Oliver Forbes, who died on May 28, 2026, at the age of 16.

Evan was a student at Gaston Day School, known for his intelligence, independence, and the way he lived with a fullness that could be felt in every room he entered. He did not move through life in small steps. He threw himself into whatever caught his interest and stayed with it until he understood it, until it became part of him. Piano, guitar, drums, singing, card tricks, cooking. He taught himself, pushed himself, and mastered things because he could not help but try.

He loved to travel, and the world felt like something he was meant to explore. He had already been to 24 countries, always seeking experience, movement, and the next moment that made him feel alive.

He loved soccer and golf, but music was where something deeper lived in him. He sang, played, and learned by instinct as much as effort, as if music was something he was remembering rather than learning. He also loved animals with an easy tenderness, the kind that asked for nothing in return. When he was little, he was called “baby bunny” and “little fella,” names that stayed because they fit the softness people saw in him even as he grew.

He was full of motion and contradiction in the most human way. Energetic, silly, stubborn, protective. He could be overwhelming in his presence and unforgettable in his absence. He did not sit quietly on the edges of life. He was in it completely, sometimes wildly, sometimes gently.

To those who knew him, he was a friend who showed up in his own way. Protective without hesitation. Loyal without conditions. He had a way of making people feel seen, even if only for a moment, and that moment tended to stay with them. His sense of humor, his smile, and his laugh are what people will remember most, the kind that could change the feeling of a room without effort.

Above all, he loved his sister, Eliza. That love was constant and fierce. He was a guiding presence in her life, someone she could lean on, laugh with, and trust. He loved her deeply, and that love was one of the truest things he ever gave.

He is survived by his parents, Stefan and Shannon Forbes; his sister, Eliza; his maternal grandparents, James “Steve” and Anna “Beth” Vinson; his paternal grandmother, Meta “Mimi” O’Neill; his late paternal grandfather, David Forbes; his uncle, James Vinson; and many extended family members and friends who will carry him with them in different, lasting ways.

His Funeral Service will be held Tuesday, June 9, 2026 at 5:00 pm in the J. Henry Stuhr, Inc., West Ashley Chapel, 3360 Glenn McConnell Parkway, Charleston, SC, 29414.

He will be loved and missed always. My heart is yours. It's you that I hold on to.

Arrangements by J. Henry Stuhr, Inc. West Ashley Chapel.

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