Margaret Mary Foster passed from death to life just before 3 p.m. on Valentine’s Day — Monday, Feb. 14, 2022. She was 98 years old. She died at her home at the Mission of Divine Mercy in Canyon Lake, Texas, while five members of her family were praying the rosary around her.
Born Margaret Mary O’Connor in 1923, she grew up in Pittsburgh, the second of nine children born to Edward and Alethaire O’Connor.
She graduated from college in 1945 and began a brief teaching career. In 1946, her cousin introduced her to a tall Kentucky gentleman who had returned from World War II and with whom she was quickly smitten. She married Ruel Foster in 1947, and they settled in Morgantown, where he had begun a job as an English professor at West Virginia University. There they raised six children (who even as senior citizens are already missing their mom); there they spent the next 52 years of their life together until her husband died of a massive heart attack in 1999 when she was turning 75. This was undoubtedly the hardest blow she had ever received, but she grieved quietly, continued to place her trust in the Lord and moved forward one day at a time into the new vocation of widowhood.
She lived that solitary life for 10 years before, at 85, joining the majority of her children in a “new and alien land” — Texas. (Which, actually, she became very fond of.) Living on the grounds of the Mission of Divine Mercy, with and close to family, she made new friends and participated in the prayers and activities of the Mission for a decade. In the final years her health began to fail, she found herself less and less able to be part of things and to maintain the autonomy that she’d had. This was not easy. But once again she grieved quietly, continued to place her trust in the Lord and to move forward one day at a time. During the last several months of her life she became bedridden and required increasing care. But she never ceased to try to offer to the Lord whatever she was called to live.
In many ways, Margaret was, herself, a living Valentine; a loving and lovely presence in the world for her family and her friends. But above all, she was the Lord’s, and on Valentine’s Day, he claimed her and took her home. Amen.
She is survived by her six children: Russ (and Eugenia), Mother Magdalene, MDM, David (and Lynn), Emily Foster Jebbia, Father John Mary, MDM and Paul; three grandchildren, Amanda Foster, Jason (and Tanza) Foster and Brother Mikael Jebbia, MDM; and four great-grandchildren, Cameron, Jazmine, Zaaron and Daniel. She is also survived by three siblings, Fr. Edward O’Connor, Eileen O’Connor Karl and Dr. Joseph O’Connor.
Visitation will be held at the Mission of Divine Mercy, 1531 Indian Chief Trail, New Braunfels, TX 78132, from 6-7 p.m., with the recitation of the Holy Rosary beginning at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 18. The Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at the Mission of Divine Mercy at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 19, with interment to follow at St. Joseph Chapel Cemetery, which is located on the church grounds. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be given to the Mission of Divine Mercy.
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