Dolores Mary (Zoeller) Foster
Dolores Mary Foster passed away in the very early morning of January 17, 2015. She was in her home surrounded by those she loved the most, her husband and children. Her death follows several years of progressive disability and several months of severe illness.
Dolores was born on October 23, 1936 in Boonville, Missouri, the daughter of Frank Stephen Zoeller and Olivia Marie (Klein) Zoeller. She graduated from S. S. Peter and Paul Catholic High School as Valedictorian of her class. On October 8, 1955, Dolores married Donald Robert Foster at her Parish Church (S. S. Peter and Paul Catholic Church) in Boonville. Her life’s adventure as a military wife, and mother then started and lasted for the next fifty-nine years.
Dolores was always a wife and mother first, but over all these years she was active in the parish community of her church, wherever that may be. All of her projects, and there were many, received a full measure of dedicated labor and love. Where most of us stop, she had just begun. Whether a letter to her deployed husband, a hamper of laundry or her yard landscape, she was “all-in”. Since mid-1976 Dolores was an active member of Our Lady Queen of Peace parish on Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Aside from the devotion to her family, this is the place that received her most fulfilling and dedicated effort. Dolores was a member, then chairman of the Doll Workshop group in the parish. The ladies of this group sewed for charities throughout the Colorado Springs community. They made layettes, receiving blankets and all the other items a needy mother in our community might need. For six months every year, they met one day each week and sewed together for their many causes. But for Dolores, and many of the others in the group, the work continued at home for many hours throughout the week. She was extremely proud to be a part of this work, and suffered very much when her disability prevented her from continuing.
On the occasion of her fiftieth wedding anniversary, she reminded her children that, “Life is God’s gift to you. The way you live your life is your gift to God. Make it a fantastic one”. She followed this advice for her entire life and now rests in the arms of our Lord. Dolores smiled often, but she had special smiles for babies, her many pets, her gardens, mushy e-mails and all things done well.
Dolores was preceded in death by her parents; brothers: George and Frank Zoeller; and sisters: Agnes Zoeller, Marjorie Love, and Rita Young. She is survived by her husband, Donald R. Foster; her children: Mark J. Foster and his wife Deborrah (Duluth, GA), Denise M. Foster (Colorado Springs, CO), Donna M. Helms and her husband Michael (Colorado Springs, CO), David M. Foster and his wife Leigh (Farmington, NM), and Robert F. Foster and his wife Kelly (Ramsey, MN). She is also survived by three sisters: Frankie Potter (Kent, WA), Sarah Twenter (Boonville, MO), and her twin, Dorlene Weed (Florissant, MO). She has nine much loved grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
A Rosary will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Thursday, January 22, 2015 at Holy Apostles Catholic Church, 4925 North Carefree Circle, followed by a funeral Mass at 10:30 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial donations to Spina Bifida Association, P.O. Box 17427, Arlington, VA 22216 (www.spinabifidaassociation.org).