Top left is my dad, Poke and my uncle, Richard. Bottom left is me and my brother Butch.
Left is our Landlord, Ms. Augness Burkart and my mom, Betty standing in the back yard.
This is my dad, Poke, in back of his car. He was a boxer back in his days, some called him Smoking Poke. I heard he was pretty good.
Dad's Chauffeur's License he needed while working at the Still Mill
Mom standing in front of our house on Front Street.
As a boy, I was carefree with no worries of my own. Mom and dad looked after us and made sure we were cared for. Dad worked hard every day at the Detroit Still Mill cleaning out blast furnaces. Back in those days, moms got to stay home and be moms. Mom stayed home looking after us, cleaning house, washing clothes and cooking meals. She was up bright and early making dad's breakfast before going to work and she always had dinner on the table when he came home after working hard all day.
We were what you would say, poor rich people. We didn't have a lot of others, but we had each other. Our family gatherings were what the kids say nowadays, awesome. The food was great and we had fun being together. When we lived in the country, there was a small Pentecostal church down the road from us. My brother plaid an accordion and mom would put it in a small wagon I got for Christmas and we would walk to Sunday School pulling the wagon.
The first place I can remember living was on Front Street, next to the floodwall in Portsmouth. My parents rented the upstairs of Ms. May King's house, later we moved it the upstairs of Agnes Burkart. I was a rotten kid back then, that's all I will say about that. I can tell you that I remember one of the neighbor's dads carrying me to my door by the belt of my britches and telling my mom to tie me to the clothesline. That was when we lived in Ms. King's place.
I can remember when they took me to the bus station in Portsmouth to see me off to the military. As we hugged and kissed, we didn't know what was in store for me. It was at the time of the Vietnam War and a lot of soldiers didn't make it back home, at least standing up.
A Walk Down Memory Lain
Be Prepaired
Be Prepaired
Be Prepaired
There has never been a more meaningful phrase written anywhere than "Be Prepared." If you are ever involved in working with the public and you find something is wrong that needs to be changed, be prepared. It could affect the rest of your life as you know it. I stepped on some toes back in the 70's and people are still saying ouch.
As a boy growing up I witnessed how some kids had to live. In and out of foster homes, children's home, abused, neglected and living a pretty rough life. Though I was just a small boy, it still bothered me. As I grew and became a little older I see how some of my best friends lived and what went on in their lives. We were like brothers and sisters, their mother was like a second mom to me. I think I was at their house more than mine. We lived out in the country where there was hardly anything to do, which was why I hung out at their house so much.
I saw her, their mother, cry, laugh play with her kids and do things with us. She took us fishing, swimming, played games with us and tried to keep her children as close to her as possible. She would sit and talk with them as though they were adults. They didn't quite understand what was going on with their mom and dad. I think they didn't want to know. They stayed in their own little world. I know it was tearing her heart into knowing her husband was seeing another woman. They had five little kids together. How can a parent do that to their family?Five beautiful children and a wife that was crazy about him. He was their hero and he didn't care. Though I was just a kid it bothered me too. Though I am 68 going on 69, it still bothers me to this day just to think about it.
{Before I go on with my story let me say this. No parent, no matter how good they are to their children or what they do, they can not know or see what their children are into, who their friends are or what they see when they are away from them. Even in their own family. They can't be with the 24 - 7. All they can do is teach them, love them, set an example, pray for them and hope they will be OK.}
I learned a lot as a kid - at school, out playing, visiting friends and doing things I shouldn't be doing, let's just leave it at that. Even as a boy scout I seen how some of the scouts lived and what kind of home life they lived.
You would think the Boy Scouts would be the safest places to be for boys to learn, play and have a good time. Even back then there were child molesters in scouting, and as everyone knows, it is even a lot worse today. There were some scouts going home after a week of camp to get their close washed and get ready for another week of camp, they were on the staff. On their way home their car broke down on the highway and this car stopped to give them a hand.
These men got out of the car, forced the scouts into their car, took them somewhere so no one would see and they molested, raped and who knows what else they did to them.
People might think that kids don't pay any attention to things like this or what goes on at home and around them, but they do. Some kids, like me, want to do something but can't until they are old enough, and I did. Though I wasn't a Christian at the time, I did go to church. I can remember walking to church with mom and my brother Butch. He was pulling a wagon with his accordion in it to play.
Me and my sister, Joy, at our country home that dad built.
As the years passed by and I got older, there was a war going on in Vietnam. The draft was at full speed, my friends and fellow scouts were being drafted. I didn't want to serve my country because I had too, so I went to the post office and enlisted into the United States Air Force where I served for four years.
As I traveled around the country I could see children and families having the same problems and troubles as our community back home when I was a boy. As it was mentioned earlier on this website, there was a minister who was molesting young people in his church. There was also a Big Brother Program that was taking young boys on vacation with them and passing them from one big brother to the other having sex with them.
As an Airman, my unit commander would allow me to do my part by allowing me to work with young people through scouting as a Scoutmaster in my spare time. He would allow me Permissive TDY up to 10 days to take the scouts to camp. The one I took was to summer camp in White Sands MM.
The last time I was in Clovis NM, Cannon AFB, was in 1971 when I was given an Honorable Discharge. I pray that I was able to help someone during my stay. I wish I was serving the Lord and reading his word. I would have been more prepared. I would have been able to talk the ones who lost their parent in Vietnam.
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I had boys from all walks of life. There wasn't very much in Cloves for children to do who came from low-income families Cloves was a small town located in the desert. You could be riding for miles and miles through the desert and all at once, boom, there was Cloves.
I remember our first camp out, the boys were all excited. They said, "Mr. Foster, we know where there is a great place to camp. It is our forest, and it is great." We drove not far out of town when the boys started yelling, there it is, see it, it's just right over there. They were pointing at a place with no more than a couple dozen trees and a pond. I couldn't wait until my leave so I could go home and take some pictures of our forest to take back to show them. When I showed them my pictures I heard a lot of "Wows and Ooo's."
This was Troop 11's idea of a forest in Clovis New Mexico. There was a few more trees than this, but this was the extent of it. But you know what, these boys had a blast. As you can see, they didn't get out much.
This is some of my scouts loading up their camping gear and equipment ready to head out for a weekend of fun and working on scout badges.
Believe it or not, I got my first License in that old bus. I took it to the BMV in Crestview, parked it, went inside. When we went outside the instructor couldn't believe his eyes. When we pulled back in the lot I asked him if he wanted me to the parallel park he said no if you can drive this you can drive anything. I left there that day with Chauffeur License.
From what I have seen firsthand while growing up and from the way the boys were being treated where I was stationed in the military, I had a made up mind to change things for the children in my hometown. Upon my return home I thanked the Lord for my safe return. A lot of my friends didn't make it. One of them was my brother-in-law, Raymond, some were fellow Boy Scouts in Troop #1.
I looked for work to support my wife and me, we didn't have any children, yet. My first job was at a gas station, selling insurance, then a pie factory, then for Brits & Radcliffe Construction build houses. I wanted a full-time job that I could retire from some day. I heard that the Ohio State Prisons was hiring and I took a civil service test and with my military background I got the job in Columbus, OH. After the new prison opened in Lucasville, OH they started transferring inmates. It was a maximum security prison. It held some of the most dangerous prisoners in the country. Since I already had my Chauffeur License, I tried my luck at driving a School Bus for Washington Local School District. I started out as a sub driver and later as full time. Then I heard that Portsmouth City School District was hiring, which was better pay and more hours. Since I worked at the pen in Lucasville at night, I stayed as a bus driver in the day.
I became a Christian in the 70's not long after my discharge and my burden for God's children was even stronger, and I was determined to get involved. I heard my old Scoutmaster gave up the Troop and I checked into it. I found out his health wasn't good anymore and he gave up the Troop, and I took it over.
We had a small ceremony for him at his church and presented a plaque to him for his years of dedication to Troop 1 and the scouts he worked with and for. He prayed for us while we were away from home in the military. They say he cried when he received word of his scouts being killed in Vietnam. We remembered and honored the scouts who were KIA.
We worked with the troop for quite some time, but we could see the boys in the area needed more. We met with Mr. Harry Weinberg at the Shane State College in Portsmouth who was over the Big Brother Organization of Scioto County. They were having a hard time keeping it afloat due to time. He said it would be a favor to him if I was to take it over. He said he would talk to his people and let me know. They approved me and I became to Director of the Big Brother Program.
Parents from broken homes were bringing their boys to meet with me in our office, some I met in their homes. We were recruiting big brothers for the boys and as fast as we could do a background check on them, we were introducing them to their little brother. Everything was going good and the program was growing. A parent came to me and asking about the girls so I bought the first Big Sister Program to Scioto County.
As time went on the Lord spoke to my heart and said, what about those children who need help in a two parent home. One night at a board meeting I told the board about it, I stepped down as Director and turned it over to the board. In the next few days the, Kids For Christ Foundation was born.
Here is where my fight started with City Hall begins. Click Here
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My wife and I were working with all types of children. I was working with Judge Kirsh in Juvenile Court, Attorney Hank Harcha, at the time, Attorney Roger Clark, Superintendent of Portsmouth City Schools - Dr. William Larson, Gary Osborn - Asst. Superintendent, school teachers from other schools in the area, business people, Sheriff John Knoff, local ministers, Dr. George Pettit and others that could help us while working with these children. Some of these people served on our board.
Not all, but most of these children were abused, neglected, molested, and from broken homes. Their parents, served time in jail or prison, were on probation, abusive homes, broken homes, they were on drugs, alcoholics, prostitutes, and the Good Lord know what else went on in their homes.
All we could do was show these kids a good time, show them that we care, let them know what real love was all about and keep them off the street, let them know how important education was, who real friends are and lead them to the Lord. My wife and I and our children worked together as a team and I must say a good team too. We were Christians that were faithful church attendance. (This would be a good time to say no matter who you have sitting at the supper table, they all aren't who they say they are. You must always watch your back, especially when you are fighting in Satan's house.)
I must say, Satan is cunning, he thinks he is one smart cookie. He will use a person to do his dirty work. He will use a person, without them knowing what they are doing, and when he is finished with them he will throw them to the wolves. As you will see.
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While working and helping these children by visiting their homes, going to their schools to talk to their teachers, going to court with them, visiting them in jail, talking with them at their school in special ed class or talking one on one with them, Satan didn't like our work and he was making plans for us.
Satan comes in all shapes and forms. He is heavy, thin, good looking, ugly, rich, poor, in low places and high places. He can have a good spirit, a bad spirit, a loving spirit and a deceiving spirit. Little did I know, he was about to turn them all loose on me.
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