Gretchen Foster unique woman dedicated to her family, church
Gretchen Foster knew the secret to a good life.
“She could just let things that didn’t matter go,” said her husband Kevin Foster. “She could sort out what was important…what she thought was gratifying to the soul.”
Foster, 42, loved to cook and get lost in a good book. She loved gardening and was dedicated to her church and her family.
Those who knew her best described her as loving, joyous, steady, faithful and unique.
“She had a real commitment in everything that she did,” her husband said. “There will never be another Gretchen.”
Foster died Nov. 6 of cancer.
A lifetime Spokane Valley resident, Foster graduated from University High School.
Foster was a musician most of her life, having playing marimba, fife and piano. At one time she played with the Percussionaut-Patriots Drum and Bugle Corps and the U-Hi marching band.
It was music that led her to her husband of 20 years.
The pair met in the summer of 1982, when both were volunteering at a band camp, and Gretchen was studying at the University of Washington. She also attended Washington State University.
The Fosters were married in 1984 and moved to the Spokane Valley shortly after. Gretchen taught English as a second language for many years before becoming a stay-at-home mom when she became pregnant with her third son, Ben, who is now 13. Her oldest son John, is 17, and Steve is 14.
“That opened up a lot of opportunities for her to do neat things,” Kevin Foster said.
Foster never missed one of her son’s activities, spending countless time at games, on the ball field or at the curbside for a Junior Lilac Parade.
“I’ll miss her immense amount of love for a lot of stuff,” her son Steve said.
Her boys remember the big gourmet sandwiches she would bring to the ball park – the kind with sprouts, lettuce and all the fixings.
“It wasn’t like you were eating the same sandwiches every week,” Steve said. “They were just great.”
She loved to cook and experiment with different recipes, from the ordinary to the exotic.
“It did not bother her one bit to destroy the kitchen to make something beautiful,” Kevin Foster said.
Foster didn’t dwell much on housework. She lived her life to her own beat, her family said.
“She had a lot of unique mannerisms,” her son John said. Sometimes, she would mix up common phrases and say something funny.
“She had an interesting way of turning a phrase, let’s just say that,” Kevin Foster said.
One tradition that will live on in her memory is the weeding of the family flower beds.
Foster was passionate about gardening, specifically perennial plants and roses.
“She knew so many details,” said one of her close friends, Barb Gwynn. “I didn’t even know what certain plants were in my yard that I planted, and she would come over and say, ‘This is this.’ “
Even as a child, Foster loved to pick flowers.
“From the time she started to go to school, she’d pick flowers, coming home with a bundle,” said her mother, Chris Bumgarner. “We’d be driving, and she’d say, ‘Stop the car Mom, I want to pick some flowers.’ “
A lifelong learner, Foster loved to do research on what interested her, browsing the Internet for information about plants, recipes, or for theological literature.
Foster was very involved with her lifetime religious congregation, the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Veradale.
She was baptized, confirmed and married in the church. Her three sons were all baptized there, and two have been confirmed there.
“She was a very strong leader and a driving force for our congregation,” Gwynn said. “She would just see needs … and organize things that needed to be done.”
Foster completed a certification in lay ministry at Whitworth College and helped to create a ministry of visitation and communion at the church to help the elderly, sick and shut-in.
Previous to that, nonordained ministers couldn’t give Communion at the church.
“Church just wasn’t something you did on Sunday,” her husband said. “That was something she brought into our home…an active life in faith, in love.”