Walter Foster

Walter Foster, age 103, of Atlanta died on July 7, 2017 of complications of Parkinson’s disease. Born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada on November 2, 1913, he was the son of Walter Edward Foster and Margaret Faulkner Foster, both originally from England. With his family he emigrated at age eight to the United States and lived in Champaign, Illinois. Money was tight and Walter worked from a young age at a paper route. He was very attached to his younger brother William (Billy) who died in adolescence from muscular dystrophy. Walter was very active in Boy Scouts for many years, and achieved the rank of Eagle Scout. He lived his life by the Boy Scout creed.

Walter earned his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Illinois, and worked most of his career as an industrial engineer at United States Steel Corporation in Gary, Indiana. After retirement he volunteered for the Senior Core of Retired Executives for several years.

Walter was married for 65 years to his beloved wife Mary Alice O’Neal Foster with whom he had two daughters. In addition to their careers and family life, he and Mary Alice were active in their church and enjoyed bridge, investing, traveling, gardening and volunteering. He was always “Mr. Fixit”, maintaining his home and cars, and always lending a helping hand to others. After he and Mary Alice moved to Atlanta in 1987, he served many years on the board of Brianwood Condominium, taking an active role in management and maintenance. One of his community volunteer activities involved driving people to medical appointments; he was “retired” when the agency realized that he was older than most of the clients he was driving.

Walter had a wide network that he kept up with for years, seldom losing touch with anyone. At age 103, he sent holiday letters to over 75 friends and family. He was technologically savvy: never fearing technology, always embracing it. As a youngster he built tube radios, as an adult he built more radios and a TV, and as a centenarian he spent hours on the computer daily emailing with friends and family. He also researched and embraced technological solutions to compensate for his hearing loss and for the physical disability brought on by Parkinson’s disease.

Walter is survived by two daughters, Martha Ann Foster and her children David William Berger (Amanda Lengsouthiphong) and Emily Maia Berger (Jeffrey Hughes), and Jean Ellen Foster (Jim Howard), and their children, Nathan David Howard and Abigail Kathryn Howard.

The family extends deep appreciation to Walter’s devoted team of caregivers: Lawrence Commander, Donnell Lemond, Kyisha Wright, Russell Strachan, and Troy Wayne Haynes.

Visitation will be from 5-7:00 p.m. Sunday, July 9, at A.S. Turner & Sons Funeral Home. The funeral Mass will be held Monday, July 10, 2017 at 11:00 a.m., Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, Atlanta with internment following at Arlington Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be given in his memory to the National Parkinson’s Foundation (http://www.parkinson.org/) or to Boy Scouts of America (http://www.scouting.org/).