Jeanne Ellen Foster, an accomplished needlework teacher and quilter who helped run a family funeral home, died of respiratory failure Monday at the Forest Hill Health and Rehabilitation Center. The Bel Air resident was 79.
Born Jeanne Ellen Armstrong in Lancaster, Pa., she was the daughter of Albert Ledmon Armstrong, who headed the paint decorating section in the can factory that produced McCormick spice tins.
She was a 1948 graduate of Manheim Township High School and Hood College, where she earned a degree in mathematics. She had a minor in music and enjoyed being the drum major and playing the string bass in school and community musical ensembles.
She moved to Baltimore and joined the old Pennsylvania Railroad. She worked in Penn Station on Charles Street and assisted passengers planning their trips.
"Travelers loved her because she had a phenomenal memory and knowledge of train routes and times," said her daughter, Dr. Jennifer E. Foster of Middletown. "She also had a beautiful smile and connected well with people."
In 1954, she married Joseph William Foster, whose family had a funeral business in Bel Air. She did bookkeeping and many other duties for the Foster Funeral Home, and before the birth of her children was a mathematician at Aberdeen Proving Ground, where she did analysis of gunshot dispersal patterns.
She enjoyed games involving math and excelled at cards, including bridge and pinochle. Family members said that she set up a lunchtime bridge game at the proving ground that was so competitive that it occasionally drew co-workers as onlookers.
As a child she learned sewing and needlework from her mother and grandmother. She never gave up the hobby and devoted more time to it as she raised her family and took phone calls for the funeral business.
"With her mathematical talent and enthusiasm, she easily mastered various techniques, especially sewing, knitting, crocheting, cross-stitching, needlepointing and complex embroidery such as blackwork and Hardanger work," said her daughter.
About 1975, she began teaching needlepoint to Harford County women through the Maryland Extension Service. She exhibited and won awards at the county and state fairs and also judged competitions.
Mrs. Foster later took up quilting, which quickly occupied an entire room, plus the living room when her quilting frame was set up.
During this time, she invited friends on Tuesdays for quilting-beelike sessions at her home.
"Her house was never too small for all of us," said a participant, Diane Sparzak of Bel Air. "She was an exacting person. She knew what she knew, and she was willing to share it. She was an excellent resource for us. We all sat around a large kitchen table. I brought my two young boys along, and they played under it."
"I remember a cream-color quilt she made that was composed of thousands of tiny stitches. It was quite beautiful and was really more of a wall hanging," she said.
She was a past treasurer of the Flying Geese Quilt Guild of Bel Air.
Mrs. Foster also enjoyed jigsaw puzzles, board games and gardening. She participated in Volksmarch hiking and spent time at Ocean City.
She was a member of Bel Air's First Presbyterian Church for more than 50 years.
She ate ice cream at least once every day and declared Breyer's her favorite, family members said.
Graveside services will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Mount Zion United Methodist Church Cemetery, 1643 E. Churchville Road, Bel Air.
In addition to her daughter, survivors include two sons, Dr. Jeffrey W. Foster of Middletown, Del., and Dr. James A. Foster of Augusta, Ga.; a brother, Dr. Albert L. Armstrong Jr. of Latham, N.Y.; a sister, Ethel A. Merrigan of Easton; and five grandchildren. Her husband of 52 years died in 2006.