1931-2023

Funeral services for Dale Alford Foster, 92, of Wills Point, were held Monday, Oct. 16, 2023, at First Baptist Church in Wills Point. Burial followed at White Rose Cemetery. Services were under the direction of Hiett’s LyBrand Funeral Home.

Dale passed away Oct. 9, 2023, in Wills Point. The Family expresses their sincere gratitude and heartfelt thank you to “Mr. Dale’s” care team, and to Hospice+ for the love and care provided to him over the past year. He was truly surrounded by angels.

Dale was born on June 8, 1931, in Oklahoma City, to the late Andy Miller Foster and Jewel Geneva Beaty Foster. He was raised in Oklahoma City and graduated from Claussen High School. While attending high school, he worked as a paper boy alongside his faithful dogs, Butch and Betty (Betty once rode a car fender on an emergency trip to the hospital to be by his side).

As a young man, Dale moved to Seattle, Washington for a year with Andy and Jewel, where he and Andy both worked as mechanics for the Boeing Company. He graduated from Friends University in Wichita, Kansas, and after working for a short time there, he enlisted in the United States Army. After completion of basic training, he was fortunate to return to the Pacifi c Northwest stationed at Fort Lewis near Tacoma.

After completion of his service to our country, Dale returned to Wichita, where he met Evelyn Elaine Ekstrom, on a blind date. They married in Wichita, Kansas on November 22, 1958. At that time, Evelyn worked for Boeing Co. as a secretary for the director of contract administration. She encouraged Dale to apply for a position at the company and he joined Boeing for the second time. Dale and Evelyn welcomed their daughter, Vicki Lynn, into the world in 1960, and in 1962 they moved to the Philadelphia area (despite Ev’s kicking and screaming) where Dale worked for the Vertol Helicopter division of Boeing and then, in 1965 their son, Jeffrey Alan was born.

It would be over the next 12 years that Dale “crafted” his way through his family’s young life. He built all kinds of things … the garage, the back patio and the screened-in porch. The Halloween concoctions were over-the-top! On her 5th Christmas, Vicki was shocked (because she didn’t even ask for it and she was a girl) to discover that Santa had built and placed under the tree, a running HO scaled, train! The very same morphed into a behemoth over the years as it was constructed to represent all the places and states to which his family traveled. It stands today.

Dale selected the fabric for, and sewed together all the cushions for the new camper one summer while the rest of the family was in Texas … surprised everyone when he arrived to take them back to Pennsylvania. Alongside favorite neighboring dads, he helped to build the facility/field for Jeff’s Aston Valley Baseball League. When he wasn’t volunteering, he was ‘volunteered.’ For The Sun Valley High School Olympics, he built the chariot for Vicki’s entire sophomore class, and he completed a floor-to-ceiling staircase for her ‘Stairway to Heaven’ themed sophomore prom.

Still fond of the Pacific Northwest, in 1977, Dale’s career with the Boeing Co. presented the family with the opportunity to move to the Seattle area. Evelyn remained in Pennsylvania an additional year before joining him, caring for her children so that Vicki could finish her very active high school year, and graduate together with her classmates.

Evelyn and Dale moved to Wills Point in 1987, where they made their final home across the street from Andy and Jewel. Dale had been a member of the First Baptist Church since 1988, and he loved singing in the First Baptist Church Choir and traveling together for performances with that group. He joined the Van Zandt County Theater Club, whereby he rekindled a budding acting career, garnering a major award for his performance in “Daddy’s Dying – Who’s Got the Will.”

As an investor with Eddie Deen, via “The Ranch at Downtown Dallas,” Dale served two inaugurations for President George W. Bush. Additional trips to Crawford and many events at “The Ranch” kept him front and center as a proud representative of his friend (and unofficial second son), Eddie Deen. In the final years of life, Dale LOVED volunteering as a docent for the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Love Field, where he proudly displayed lots of Boeing flair on his red vest, making new friends and inspiring young people to consider a career in aviation. Before making the 50-mile trek back home to Wills Point, he’d stop at Vicki and Jon’s to share a beverage, some salty snacks or dinner, and shoot a game of pool with his son-in-law.

Dale is preceded in death by his parents, Andy and Jewel, and the love of his life, Evelyn.

Dale is survived by his daughter, Vicki Foster and husband, Jon Stitt of Dallas; son, Jeff Foster and daughter-in-law, Ann of Seattle, Washington; brother- in-law, Delton Ekstrom and wife, Kiko of Southlake; grandchildren, Maxwell and Bennett; as well as step-grandchildren, Allison and Tristan.

Visitation was held Sunday, Oct. 15, 2023, at Hiett’s LyBrand Funeral Home in Wills Point.