Donald Foster

Donald Randolph Foster died Tuesday July 6, 2021, at AHC Paris. He was 87 years old.

Don was born March 24,1934 in Cleveland, Ohio to Clyde and Mildred Foster.  He was the second youngest of many siblings. In 1949, he joined the U.S. Army where he served in Korea and remained active until 1954.  He then was employed by Ford Motor Company where he was responsible for many ideas that Ford adopted that he received several awards from the company. He retired from Ford in 1972.

On March 18, 1955, he married Janice O’nora Petty. They lived in Ohio, until moving to Paris, Tennessee in 1981. He worked alongside family at Mar-Kel Lighting Inc, before retiring again to be a cattle farmer on their farm in Paris.  He very much loved his vegetable gardening and won a blue ribbon at Henry County Fair for the largest watermelon.  He was a former basketball player and loved watching various sports. He was an avid Tennessee Titans and Memphis Grizzlies fan.  He also was very tech savvy, always having the latest computers in which he would regularly shop online.

He is survived by his two daughters, Shari (Curt) Pitonak, and Laurie Foster (Gary Kessel); two granddaughters, Brandy (Mikey) Conklin and Autumn (Ryan) Pugh; seven great grandchildren, Tyler, Madison, Lexi, Marc, Brian, Katelyn, and Ethan; and two great-great grandchildren Langston and Greylee.  He loved his family very much.

He was preceded in death by his parents and all of his siblings.

In lieu of flowers or gifts, please make donations in his memory to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105 or to the COPD Foundation at copdfoundation.org

His body is to be cremated and a private celebration of his life will be held.  He will be dearly missed by his family and all who knew him.