Perry A. Foster

CHESTER DEPOT - Perry Allen Foster, 79, of Chester Depot, Vt., passed away on November 25, 2013, as a result of injuries sustained during a fall.

Perry was born in Weston, Vt., on the Fourth of July in 1934, to Percy and Margery Foster, and grew up learning the values of traditional, rural Vermont living. He joined his family's dairy operation after graduation from Chester High School (Class of '52). With the exception of a tour in the armed services which took him to Alaska in 1958, he worked on the farm with his family until 1986.

He married Mary Clark, originally from Chester Depot, in 1962. Perry and Mary moved to Mary's family home in Chester Depot after they stopped farming. Perry's decades of early rising made him ideally suited for his next job, working the early morning shift at several garages in town. Mary passed away in 1988.

Perry married Geraldine (Wiley) O'Connell in 1989. Together, Perry and Gerry enjoyed collecting and learning about antiques, exploring the quiet corners of Vermont while participating in the "251 Club," and spending time with their grandchildren. When Perry retired in 1999, he began a small antiques business which brought him years of enjoyment. Gerry passed away in 2004.

Perry was a lifetime member of the Masonic Lodge, a past lister in Weston and Chester, and had an extraordinary knowledge of Weston and Chester families. Fiercely independent, he maintained his own residence, accompanied by his cat and close companion, Smudgie, until the month of his death.

Though he lived alone, Perry had a wide network of relations and friends whom he leaves behind. He is survived by his brother and sister-in-law, Wayne and Louise Foster, and his sister-in-law, Jeanne Foster, of Weston and their families; his two stepdaughters, Kathy and Duffy O'Craven of Toronto, Canada, and Susan O'Connell and Craig Slaughter of Hardwick, Vt.; and his four grandchildren, Morgan, Jill, Rylan and Mandy. He will be missed by many longtime friends in Chester and beyond.

A memorial service will be held at the Chester Masonic Lodge on Sunday, December 8, at 2:00 p.m. Interment will take place in the spring in Pleasant View Cemetery in Chester, Vt. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent to the Chester Historical Society, PO Box 118, Chester, VT 05143.