Eleanor Margaret Hay Foster passed away on June 11, in Rio Communities, New Mexico where she had lived her last fourteen months with her daughter. She was born October 26, 1928 at Hiway, Roosevelt County, New Mexico to Anna Clyng Hay and Eugene Wells Hay. She was preceded in death by her loving husband William “Bill” Bennett Foster, Jr., and her brother George Hay of Hiway, New Mexico.

Eleanor grew up on a remote, rural ranch in Eastern New Mexico south of Portales. Due to the lack of bus drivers, she was employed to drive the long, rutted route at the age of 13. She joined the 4-H Club at the age of nine which started her fascination with sewing. She never stopped sewing. She attended New Mexico A&M with the money she saved from the bus driver’s job and her expert sewing. Naturally, she majored in Home Economics, and later earned a Bachelor’s degree at Eastern New Mexico University. She worked as a County Extension Agent for awhile then married the man she had met at NM A&M on November 30, 1948. They would be married for over fifty years.

Bill and Eleanor had three children, Eugene Bennett Foster of Terlingua, Mark Foster of Alpine, and Kathleen Eleanor Foster Prichard of Rio Communities, New Mexico. She was proud of her four grandsons and two great-grandsons.

The Foster Family lived in many different states including; Washington, Massachusetts, Kentucky, several times in New Mexico and Texas where Bill was the Buildings and Utilities Foreman for Big Bend National Park starting in 1976. Before retiring in 1983, Bill and Eleanor started building their dream home on Jack Eden Mesa on Terlingua Ranch, just outside the park. This labor of love was done by hand, just the two of them working many weekends until Bill retired, and then the job became full-time. Bill lived a full life until 2003. Eleanor lived another 20 years spending a great deal of that at the sewing machine.

Whether it was quilting, tailoring, or making a vast array of stuffed toys, she did it in volumes. A regular one of her donations each Christmas was 60 or so Teddy Bears to Toys for Tots. Each of her relatives had their own hand-made quilt, and some were lucky enough to have two. She worked on projects right up to her last two months. Even then, she could thread a needle with her one good eye better than a person with 20/20 vision in both eyes!

The family wishes donors to plant a tree in her honor in lieu of flowers or gifts.