John Thomas Foster

John Thomas Foster, 83, of 110 Arch Street, Keene, died Friday evening at the Cheshire Medical Center following a long illness. He was born March 31, 1919 at Fort Oglethorpe, GA, a military camp, where his father was a physician, and spent his next seven years in Changsha, China where his father taught medicine at a Yale University mission college. In 1927 the Americans in China were evicted by the Communist revolutionaries, but it was their guerrilla troops sixteen years later who rescued him from behind Japanese lines after he parachuted from his burning B-24 of the 14th Air Force "Flying Tigers." Only 20 out 70 Air Corps servicemen survived that day, which he called "my worst ever." Later, he directed an 800-student Air Force school at Yale and then directed an Air Force 19-state program to promote the development of the Civil Air Patrol. His retired Air Force rank was major. What began as the story of his China experience grew into a detailed history of the 308th Bomb Group -- "China, Up and Down" -- published in 1994. A graduate of Colby College in 1940, various military training schools, and the Yale School of Public Health in 1979, his working years combined writing -- editor of a weekly newspaper in Oklahoma and managing editor of McGraw-Hill's "Modern Hospital Magazine" -- and hospital management in various parts of the U.S. He was brought to Keene in 1976 to head Cheshire Hospital and was very proud of the financial and program successes which he helped bring about over the next twelve years. Recognized for a number of innovations -- such as restructuring the hospital corporation and creating the Farnum Rehabilitation service -- he received the Gold Medal Award from the New England Hospital Assembly of which he was president in 1976-77 and a similar award from the New Hampshire Hospital Association, which he headed in 1987. He was a Life Member of the American Hospital Association and a Life Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. He was president of the Greater Keene Chamber of Commerce in 1987 and active in many other civic organizations. He was a permanent trustee of the Keene Public Library and its treasurer in 1995-1997. He was a leader of the fund raising for the planting of new trees at Keene's Central Square and Main Street and presided over the dedication ceremony. Hired by the Great Books Foundation in 1946 to organize discussion groups in upstate New York, he continued avocationally to lead groups, including the Keene group, for the next 50 years. He took the greatest satisfaction from a group he led for two years for inmates at the Attica (NY) State Prison. He was the first chairman of the city's Airport Advisory Commission (1986-1992). During that period commercial air service was restored, a fulltime airport manager was hired, the master plan updated, and the main runway rebuilt with $3 million in Federal funds. He retired from the hospital in 1988 and for the next two years was the editor of a textbook on hospital management. He also completed the research and writing of his China book. His interests included tennis, travel, chess and photography, some of the latter displayed in an exhibit at the hospital in 1995. He wrote dozens of letters to The Keene Sentinel on both health care and political issues. In 1983 he addressed the Peterborough Lyceum on his travels to China. He is survived by two sons, John Poe Foster, an attorney in Eastport, Maine, and Alan Arthur Foster, the president of a public television consulting firm in Washington, D.C., and by two granddaughters, Alexandra Foster and Rainbow Porthe. Twice married, he is survived by both former wives (Vivien Eaton, of Austin, Texas, and former State Representative from Keene, Katherine Foster, now of Hanover) and by his companion of the past 14 years, Lenice Hirschberger of Fitzwilliam. Burial will be in a five-generational family plot in Waterville, Maine. A memorial service for John T. Foster who died on February 7, 2003 will be held on Saturday February 22, 2003 at 3:00 PM in the First Baptist Church, 105 Maple Avenue, Keene. The Reverend Mark Ferrin, Pastor of the parish and the Reverend Norman DePuy of Peterborough will jointly officiate. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Mr. Foster's memory to HCS (Home Health Care, Hospice and Community Services) at PO Box 564, Keene, NH 03431. The Cremation Society of New Hampshire is in charge of arrangements. For more information, to view an on-line memorial or to send a condolence, go to www.csnh.com.