Margaret Lee Foster

1924 - 2009

Margaret Lee Brown Foster, 84, accomplished artist, singer, songwriter and fashion model, died peacefully in the home of her daughter and son-in-law Tuesday morning, Feb. 24, 2009.
Even as her illness inexorably progressed, she never lost her sparkling sense of humor and positive outlook. Maggie was born May 29, 1924 in Sherman to Margaret Etta Wallace Brown and Hubert Lee Brown M.D., a noted surgeon. She frequently sang on the KRRV radio station before graduating Sherman High School in 1940. She attended Stephens College in Columbia, Mo. for two years before transferring to the University of Oklahoma where she became a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.
During World War II, she traveled with a USO-sponsored tour with the famous Tex Beneke orchestra as a singer and songwriter to military bases across Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas. In late 1945, after receiving her B.A. degree in portrait painting from OU, she moved to Oklahoma City and worked as a fashion artist.
She married Riley Payton Foster, a medical school graduate, June 7, 1947, and relocated to Quebec for his internship at Montreal General Hospital. Over the next few years, Maggie became a top photo and runway fashion model in Canada known for her uncanny resemblance to movie star Lauren Bacall. In 1947, she and Dr. Foster relocated to Dallas where he served his residency at Methodist Hospital and Maggie continued fashion modeling.
In 1950, they had moved to Fort Worth where Dr. Foster went into medical practice and her only child, Margaret Kristen, was later born. Circumstances changed when Dr. Foster was drafted into Korean War service, serving in the Air Force as a captain and chief of surgery at Ellington Air Force Base (now Ellington Field) near Houston. After USAF service, Dr. Foster trained through Baylor College of Medicine and with Drs. Michael DeBakey and Denton Cooley in cardiovascular surgery.
In September 1961, during Hurricane Carla, the Fosters moved into their River Oaks home. After Dr. Foster's untimely death in June 1967, Maggie continued residing on Pelham Drive while working in the Neiman-Marcus boutique at the Shamrock Hilton Hotel. In later years she worked at David Webb Jewelers until retiring in 1988.
Her devoted daughter Kristen Foster Perry and son-in-law John Perry survive her as do grandchildren Margaret Alison Adger Moorhead and her husband Gary Moorhead; Lee Kurth Jameson and Robert Butler Jameson; and great-grandson Cole Scott Moorhead. Cousins Margaret Clark Nelms of Sugar Land and Judy Clark Staley of Rockport also survive her.
Maggie was a member of St. Paul's United Methodist Church; the Kappa Kappa Gamma Alumni Association; the SPCA; the Harris County Medical Auxiliary; a board member and set designer of Theater, Inc.; and patron of the Junior League Tearoom. She leaves hundreds of original oil paintings as legacy to her lifelong passion for art.
Her memorial service will be held 2 p.m. Monday, March 2 at St. Paul's United Methodist Church followed by a reception in the church parlor. In lieu of flowers, donations will be accepted to the Houston SPCA.