Post by Marc LeVine on Oct 5, 2006 9:22:40 GMT -5
ONE OF US
Centenarian a Freehold fixture for 100 years
Family man still looking to future
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/5/06
BY ALESHA WILLIAMS
STAFF WRITER
FREEHOLD — Wherever Stanley Foster lay his hat was his home, but he was hardly a rolling stone.
His classic fedora rests today on his apartment door at The Willows at Holmdel assisted-living facility. But for almost 100 years, Foster has called Freehold home.
"I loved the tranquility," Foster said of the borough and why he stayed so long. "It was a nice place to live. The people were friendly. We really enjoyed life.
"I wouldn't trade my life there for all the tea in China," he said.
The centenarian's tidy room at The Willows, his conservative-but-dapper fashion sense and his calm, reserved demeanor belie a century rich with hard work, music, family and fun.
The Foster patriarch was born and raised in a still-standing home on Bennett Street before starting his married life with his first wife, Ruth, on Fulton Street when he was 23. The couple had two children. Ruth died, and he married Lucille, adding a stepdaughter to the family.
His family said Foster is a kind, fun-loving man who never forgets to do something special for them on their birthdays. So this week they did something special for his 100th, said stepdaughter Gail O'Herron, 59, of Middletown.
Most of Foster's family, which includes eight grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild, gathered Sunday at The Willows to celebrate his birthday, which was Monday.
"He's a wonderfully kind person, generous and giving," said O'Herron, who used to receive hand-crafted woodwork from Stanley for birthdays.
In a borough with as much historic significance as Freehold, Foster is something of a treasure to the borough, too, family members said.
He can recall the days a trough ran through Main Street in front of the Hall of Records to refresh residents' and visitors' horses.
"The traffic now has become gridlocked. We never had that before," Foster said. "Back then, our sidewalks were 2-by-4s nailed to 2-by-4s.
He dropped out of Hudson Street School, which was the borough high school, to work. As a teen, he was a broadloom weaver at Karagheusian Rug Mill, a major employer in the borough for more than half the 20th century.
He later became the high school's maintenance man and a manager at Colonial Wallpaper and Paint in Freehold.
"I'm constantly traveling, so it's amazing to me he spent his entire life in one town, mostly in one house, and he has never in his life been on an airplane," son S. Ronald Foster of Gainesville, Ga., said.
"But he taught me a lot of things you can't learn in college, can't get in a book," said his son, who is a vice president for a networking equipment company.
He owes his handyman skills to his dear old dad, he said.
Stanley Foster didn't just work hard. He played baseball, soccer and bowled when local municipalities offered adult leagues that competed against each other.
The sometimes-classical and honky-tonk pianist also was a popular draw at watering holes such as Freehold's former Country Inn and the Friendship Inn in Lakewood, he said.
"I was very lively, a lot of fun, always kidding and fooling," Stanley Foster said. "I was at the sports all the time, loved the spotlight."
These days Stanley Foster, who lived independently until February, can no longer play the piano or craft wood because of arthritis and bad vision, but he spends time remembering those years.
Visits from family, such as the birthday celebration that brought them from far and wide this weekend, brighten his days. His radio is tuned to jazz, classical and ragtime stations that take him back to his younger days, he said.
He still looks forward to the future, too, when he sees his 1-year-old great-great-granddaughter, Mia, of Woodbridge, Va.
"I just wish her as good a life as I've had," Stanley Foster said. "I hope she lives to see 100 years, too."
Centenarian a Freehold fixture for 100 years
Family man still looking to future
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/5/06
BY ALESHA WILLIAMS
STAFF WRITER
FREEHOLD — Wherever Stanley Foster lay his hat was his home, but he was hardly a rolling stone.
His classic fedora rests today on his apartment door at The Willows at Holmdel assisted-living facility. But for almost 100 years, Foster has called Freehold home.
"I loved the tranquility," Foster said of the borough and why he stayed so long. "It was a nice place to live. The people were friendly. We really enjoyed life.
"I wouldn't trade my life there for all the tea in China," he said.
The centenarian's tidy room at The Willows, his conservative-but-dapper fashion sense and his calm, reserved demeanor belie a century rich with hard work, music, family and fun.
The Foster patriarch was born and raised in a still-standing home on Bennett Street before starting his married life with his first wife, Ruth, on Fulton Street when he was 23. The couple had two children. Ruth died, and he married Lucille, adding a stepdaughter to the family.
His family said Foster is a kind, fun-loving man who never forgets to do something special for them on their birthdays. So this week they did something special for his 100th, said stepdaughter Gail O'Herron, 59, of Middletown.
Most of Foster's family, which includes eight grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild, gathered Sunday at The Willows to celebrate his birthday, which was Monday.
"He's a wonderfully kind person, generous and giving," said O'Herron, who used to receive hand-crafted woodwork from Stanley for birthdays.
In a borough with as much historic significance as Freehold, Foster is something of a treasure to the borough, too, family members said.
He can recall the days a trough ran through Main Street in front of the Hall of Records to refresh residents' and visitors' horses.
"The traffic now has become gridlocked. We never had that before," Foster said. "Back then, our sidewalks were 2-by-4s nailed to 2-by-4s.
He dropped out of Hudson Street School, which was the borough high school, to work. As a teen, he was a broadloom weaver at Karagheusian Rug Mill, a major employer in the borough for more than half the 20th century.
He later became the high school's maintenance man and a manager at Colonial Wallpaper and Paint in Freehold.
"I'm constantly traveling, so it's amazing to me he spent his entire life in one town, mostly in one house, and he has never in his life been on an airplane," son S. Ronald Foster of Gainesville, Ga., said.
"But he taught me a lot of things you can't learn in college, can't get in a book," said his son, who is a vice president for a networking equipment company.
He owes his handyman skills to his dear old dad, he said.
Stanley Foster didn't just work hard. He played baseball, soccer and bowled when local municipalities offered adult leagues that competed against each other.
The sometimes-classical and honky-tonk pianist also was a popular draw at watering holes such as Freehold's former Country Inn and the Friendship Inn in Lakewood, he said.
"I was very lively, a lot of fun, always kidding and fooling," Stanley Foster said. "I was at the sports all the time, loved the spotlight."
These days Stanley Foster, who lived independently until February, can no longer play the piano or craft wood because of arthritis and bad vision, but he spends time remembering those years.
Visits from family, such as the birthday celebration that brought them from far and wide this weekend, brighten his days. His radio is tuned to jazz, classical and ragtime stations that take him back to his younger days, he said.
He still looks forward to the future, too, when he sees his 1-year-old great-great-granddaughter, Mia, of Woodbridge, Va.
"I just wish her as good a life as I've had," Stanley Foster said. "I hope she lives to see 100 years, too."