| Obituary - Thomas Evans Foster |
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Thomas Evans Foster
Sept. 19, 1923 – Oct. 31, 2009
Retired farmer and dedicated Poland China and Yorkshire breeder, Thomas Evans Foster, 86, passed away last Saturday, Oct. 31 in Greenfield, Ind., after recently returning from his daughter’s home in Ithaca, N.Y.
Born on Sept. 19, 1923, he was the son of the late Lester E. and Lila (Smith) Foster. Thomas was a 1941 graduate of Maxwell High School, where he was the captain of the ’41 Maxwell basketball team, which won the school’s first sectional of the Indiana High School Basketball Assoc. On Feb. 20, 2004, Foster was inducted to the Greenfield-Central Athletic Hall of Fame as an inaugural member.
A member of the ROTC at Purdue University, Foster served as first lieutenant in the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean War, where he learned to fly small planes such as the L19.
Following military service in 1945, Foster returned to Purdue University to complete a bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry in 1949.
Thereafter his career at Purdue and the Army, he returned to operate the family farm in Greenfield – Sycamore Lane Farm, with his father. By the early 1970s, Foster’s son John, returned from Purdue to operate the grain and purebred hog business, and in 2008, Foster’s grandson, Dallas, took on the role of operating the family farm as its fourth generation.
A lifelong resident of Greenfield, he was a member of the First Presbyterian Church. He served as a past president of the Hancock County Farm Bureau, as well as committees at the state level. He was also a past president and Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Club of Greenfield, and was active in hosting students involved in the Rotary Exchange program.
Foster was an active member of the Hancock County Republican Party, and he served on the Hancock County Council from 1974 until 1992. In 1978, Foster ran for a seat in the state legislature.
Continuing the family tradition of political events at Sycamore Lane Farm, Foster hosted a hog roast for Dan Quayle, when he ran for the Senate. Other farm visits included Secretary of Agriculture Earl Butz, who served under the Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford administrations.
In addition to his political involvement, Foster was also an avid Poland China and Yorkshire competitor. Foster and his two younger brothers, John P. and James R., competed and won champion honors at the Indiana State Fair, Ohio State Fair and the International Livestock Exhibition in Chicago. Sycamore Lane Farm was the site of a number of hog sales throughout the years. Foster also showed registered Shopshire and Southdown sheep.
He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Carol (McElroy) Foster, of Greenfield; son, John (Debra) Foster, of Greenfield; daughters, Martha (Robert) O’Keefe, of Norwich, N.Y., Patricia (Michael) Thonney, of Ithaca, N.Y.; brothers, John P. (Barbara) Foster, of Ellensburg, Wash., James R. (Mary Lou) Foster, of West Lafayette, Ind.; seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his parents and two sons, Robert and Charles Foster.
Funeral services are 10 a.m., Monday, Nov. 9 at the First Presbyterian Church of Greenfield.
Burial will follow at Park Cemetery, Greenfield. Friends may call Sunday, Nov. 8 from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m. at Stillinger Family Funeral Home, Pasco Chapel, Greenfield.
Online condolences may be shared at www.stillingerfamilyfuneralhome.com |
| 11/4/2009 |
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