Thomas Ellis Foster – Obituary

by Lynn McMillen
0 comment

Thomas Ellis Foster, 95, of Huntsville, passed away in his home on Thursday, May 4, 2017. He was born on February 4, 1922 in New York City of British parents, George Edward Foster of London, England and Alice Bishop Ellis of Edinburgh, Scotland. He was preceded in death by his first wife, Babette W. Foster.

He is survived by his loving wife, Carolyn Kerr Auerhammer Foster; nephews, George III “Skip”, Gary, Bruce, and Bill; niece, Barbara; great-nephews, George 4th “Chip”, Keith, Stewart “Chip” and great-nieces, Christine Margaret, Stephanie, Samantha, Christine Sue, Dawn, Lisa, Veronica, Jennifer; many more great-great nieces and nephews; stepchildren are daughter, Ann Maples and grandchildren, April Auerhammer-Jones (Brian);  Andy Auerhammer (LeeAnn); great-grandchildren, Nick, Kimberlee, Austin, Kourtney, Braxton, Brent, and Bentley Thomas, all of Huntsville, AL.  He was preceded in death by nephew, Norman; and great nephew, Gary Jr.

Thomas Foster was born and raised in the Scot/English area of NYC. After finishing high school in Yonkers, he joined the US Navy Air Force. When WWII started just after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, he served in the Asia Pacific Theater of operations. Using the GI bill for veterans, he received his engineering degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1951. He married Babette in 1953. While living in GA, Dr. Von Braun gave a talk on space. Thomas was offered a position with the army ballistic missile agency, and he and his wife moved to Huntsville in 1958. Huntsville was a small town of about 12,000 people at that time and the German rocket team was busy with developing the first ballistic missiles for the army. This was the ground work for all the larger programs that followed for NASA and the Army Missile command.

Before his death, he enjoyed retirement and lots of sports like snow skiing, tennis and boxing events. He enjoyed flying and of course, swing dancing with his wife, Carolyn. The light of his eye was I Charleston Huntsville on YouTube. Huntsville Swing Dancing Society was a wonderful club for him and Carolyn.

Visitation will be from 12 noon to 1 p.m. Saturday May 13, 2017 at Laughlin Service Funeral Home, with the funeral service following in the chapel.  Burial will be in Maple Hill Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Mayo Clinic Research and CCI of Huntsville, Alabama, Kidney Research Foundation or Georgia Tech College Scholarship

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Related Posts

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.