James Ora Foster was the son of James Ora Foster and Lorenna McFarlin. He was born on December 2, 1882, in the village of Dennison in Clark County, Illinois. He lost his mother at an early age, and spent much of his childhood in an orphanage. When he was able to strike out on his own, he went west at age 17 or 18, and became a lumberjack. He had grown tall and broad, with jet-black hair and lean, handsome features. When he returned to Indiana in his early twenties, he met a pretty young lady who was schooled in art and piano; that fact made leaving Indiana again quite out of the question.
Clara Bertha Park was born August 21, 1882, into a socially prominent and moderately well-to-do Terre Haute family, the daughter of a paving and plastering contractor, James Allen Park. Her mother, Mattie Boggs, had fiery long red hair that hung to her waist. Like her sisters, Bertha (she used her middle name, as did many in her family) was schooled in the arts, and displayed great talent in drawing and painting and in playing the piano. She grew into a slender, attractive, and intelligent young woman with a soft personality, haunting eyes, and infectious laugh. It was she who had caught the eye of Jim Foster, and she was rather taken with him, too -- for they wed on May 18, 1904, in Vigo County. Bertha was eight less than four months older than her husband, which occasioned many good-humored comments through the years, about the "older woman" Jim had in his life.
Jim Foster became a miner, like most of his neighbors, and even opened a mine shaft on his own property, working long hours to try to better the lot of his growing family. The year after their marriage, their first son Clifford was born. The following year twins George and Gertrude came along. Then Margaret in 1909, Elsie in 1916, Alice in 1919, Thelma in 1921, and James Kenneth in 1924 filled out the family. Sadly, their daughter Gertrude died at age 5 of scarlet fever. Despite this tragedy, the Foster family weathered the storms every family faces, and their home was a happy one.
The Great Depression hit the area -- and the Foster family -- very hard. As did many families, they coped by sending minor children to live with their older married children, to weather the storm until the economic conditions were better. Yet the children maintained their family identity, and their love for their parents.
During the years of World War II, the health of Jim and Bertha deteriorated. The sore throat that Jim developed turned out to be cancer. The cancer was excised; it encapsulated a piece of tree bark that presumably was inhaled while he was lumberjacking so many years before. The standard treatment for such cancers in the 1940s was exposure to Cobalt; those treatments left Jim badly weakened. When he would come to Indianapolis for those treatments, he stayed with his children while he regained strength. But that strength slowly ebbed; James Foster passed away on November 4, 1946. He was buried at Bethesda Cemetery near the home where he had lived so many happy, though arduous, years. His wife of 42 years and seven children survived him.
Bertha's health was fragile; she suffered from spells of dizziness, which occasioned many losses of balance. She fell from bed one evening, striking her head and leading to a cerebral hemorrhage that took her life only five months after Jim had passed away, on April 19, 1947. Bertha was laid to rest beside her beloved Jim. The grieving family closed the longtime Foster home and went about the postwar years reestablishing their lives; their parents' grave remained unmarked, for the simple reason that no one could afford to have a stone placed. And time erased the omission from memory.
Now, almost 60 years since James passed away, we meet to rectify the omission. Among their children, only Thelma and James Kenneth survive to witness this event, and to do honor to the memory of their parents.
Written By: Roy O'Conner - Grandson
Clara Bertha Park was born August 21, 1882, into a socially prominent and moderately well-to-do Terre Haute family, the daughter of a paving and plastering contractor, James Allen Park. Her mother, Mattie Boggs, had fiery long red hair that hung to her waist. Like her sisters, Bertha (she used her middle name, as did many in her family) was schooled in the arts, and displayed great talent in drawing and painting and in playing the piano. She grew into a slender, attractive, and intelligent young woman with a soft personality, haunting eyes, and infectious laugh. It was she who had caught the eye of Jim Foster, and she was rather taken with him, too -- for they wed on May 18, 1904, in Vigo County. Bertha was eight less than four months older than her husband, which occasioned many good-humored comments through the years, about the "older woman" Jim had in his life.
Jim Foster became a miner, like most of his neighbors, and even opened a mine shaft on his own property, working long hours to try to better the lot of his growing family. The year after their marriage, their first son Clifford was born. The following year twins George and Gertrude came along. Then Margaret in 1909, Elsie in 1916, Alice in 1919, Thelma in 1921, and James Kenneth in 1924 filled out the family. Sadly, their daughter Gertrude died at age 5 of scarlet fever. Despite this tragedy, the Foster family weathered the storms every family faces, and their home was a happy one.
The Great Depression hit the area -- and the Foster family -- very hard. As did many families, they coped by sending minor children to live with their older married children, to weather the storm until the economic conditions were better. Yet the children maintained their family identity, and their love for their parents.
During the years of World War II, the health of Jim and Bertha deteriorated. The sore throat that Jim developed turned out to be cancer. The cancer was excised; it encapsulated a piece of tree bark that presumably was inhaled while he was lumberjacking so many years before. The standard treatment for such cancers in the 1940s was exposure to Cobalt; those treatments left Jim badly weakened. When he would come to Indianapolis for those treatments, he stayed with his children while he regained strength. But that strength slowly ebbed; James Foster passed away on November 4, 1946. He was buried at Bethesda Cemetery near the home where he had lived so many happy, though arduous, years. His wife of 42 years and seven children survived him.
Bertha's health was fragile; she suffered from spells of dizziness, which occasioned many losses of balance. She fell from bed one evening, striking her head and leading to a cerebral hemorrhage that took her life only five months after Jim had passed away, on April 19, 1947. Bertha was laid to rest beside her beloved Jim. The grieving family closed the longtime Foster home and went about the postwar years reestablishing their lives; their parents' grave remained unmarked, for the simple reason that no one could afford to have a stone placed. And time erased the omission from memory.
Now, almost 60 years since James passed away, we meet to rectify the omission. Among their children, only Thelma and James Kenneth survive to witness this event, and to do honor to the memory of their parents.
Written By: Roy O'Conner - Grandson
James Ora Foster was the son of James Ora Foster and Lorenna McFarlin. He was born on December 2, 1882, in the village of Dennison in Clark County, Illinois. He lost his mother at an early age, and spent much of his childhood in an orphanage. When he was able to strike out on his own, he went west at age 17 or 18, and became a lumberjack. He had grown tall and broad, with jet-black hair and lean, handsome features. When he returned to Indiana in his early twenties, he met a pretty young lady who was schooled in art and piano; that fact made leaving Indiana again quite out of the question.
Clara Bertha Park was born August 21, 1882, into a socially prominent and moderately well-to-do Terre Haute family, the daughter of a paving and plastering contractor, James Allen Park. Her mother, Mattie Boggs, had fiery long red hair that hung to her waist. Like her sisters, Bertha (she used her middle name, as did many in her family) was schooled in the arts, and displayed great talent in drawing and painting and in playing the piano. She grew into a slender, attractive, and intelligent young woman with a soft personality, haunting eyes, and infectious laugh. It was she who had caught the eye of Jim Foster, and she was rather taken with him, too -- for they wed on May 18, 1904, in Vigo County. Bertha was eight less than four months older than her husband, which occasioned many good-humored comments through the years, about the "older woman" Jim had in his life.
Jim Foster became a miner, like most of his neighbors, and even opened a mine shaft on his own property, working long hours to try to better the lot of his growing family. The year after their marriage, their first son Clifford was born. The following year twins George and Gertrude came along. Then Margaret in 1909, Elsie in 1916, Alice in 1919, Thelma in 1921, and James Kenneth in 1924 filled out the family. Sadly, their daughter Gertrude died at age 5 of scarlet fever. Despite this tragedy, the Foster family weathered the storms every family faces, and their home was a happy one.
The Great Depression hit the area -- and the Foster family -- very hard. As did many families, they coped by sending minor children to live with their older married children, to weather the storm until the economic conditions were better. Yet the children maintained their family identity, and their love for their parents.
During the years of World War II, the health of Jim and Bertha deteriorated. The sore throat that Jim developed turned out to be cancer. The cancer was excised; it encapsulated a piece of tree bark that presumably was inhaled while he was lumberjacking so many years before. The standard treatment for such cancers in the 1940s was exposure to Cobalt; those treatments left Jim badly weakened. When he would come to Indianapolis for those treatments, he stayed with his children while he regained strength. But that strength slowly ebbed; James Foster passed away on November 4, 1946. He was buried at Bethesda Cemetery near the home where he had lived so many happy, though arduous, years. His wife of 42 years and seven children survived him.
Bertha's health was fragile; she suffered from spells of dizziness, which occasioned many losses of balance. She fell from bed one evening, striking her head and leading to a cerebral hemorrhage that took her life only five months after Jim had passed away, on April 19, 1947. Bertha was laid to rest beside her beloved Jim. The grieving family closed the longtime Foster home and went about the postwar years reestablishing their lives; their parents' grave remained unmarked, for the simple reason that no one could afford to have a stone placed. And time erased the omission from memory.
Now, almost 60 years since James passed away, we meet to rectify the omission. Among their children, only Thelma and James Kenneth survive to witness this event, and to do honor to the memory of their parents.
Written By: Roy O'Conner - Grandson
Clara Bertha Park was born August 21, 1882, into a socially prominent and moderately well-to-do Terre Haute family, the daughter of a paving and plastering contractor, James Allen Park. Her mother, Mattie Boggs, had fiery long red hair that hung to her waist. Like her sisters, Bertha (she used her middle name, as did many in her family) was schooled in the arts, and displayed great talent in drawing and painting and in playing the piano. She grew into a slender, attractive, and intelligent young woman with a soft personality, haunting eyes, and infectious laugh. It was she who had caught the eye of Jim Foster, and she was rather taken with him, too -- for they wed on May 18, 1904, in Vigo County. Bertha was eight less than four months older than her husband, which occasioned many good-humored comments through the years, about the "older woman" Jim had in his life.
Jim Foster became a miner, like most of his neighbors, and even opened a mine shaft on his own property, working long hours to try to better the lot of his growing family. The year after their marriage, their first son Clifford was born. The following year twins George and Gertrude came along. Then Margaret in 1909, Elsie in 1916, Alice in 1919, Thelma in 1921, and James Kenneth in 1924 filled out the family. Sadly, their daughter Gertrude died at age 5 of scarlet fever. Despite this tragedy, the Foster family weathered the storms every family faces, and their home was a happy one.
The Great Depression hit the area -- and the Foster family -- very hard. As did many families, they coped by sending minor children to live with their older married children, to weather the storm until the economic conditions were better. Yet the children maintained their family identity, and their love for their parents.
During the years of World War II, the health of Jim and Bertha deteriorated. The sore throat that Jim developed turned out to be cancer. The cancer was excised; it encapsulated a piece of tree bark that presumably was inhaled while he was lumberjacking so many years before. The standard treatment for such cancers in the 1940s was exposure to Cobalt; those treatments left Jim badly weakened. When he would come to Indianapolis for those treatments, he stayed with his children while he regained strength. But that strength slowly ebbed; James Foster passed away on November 4, 1946. He was buried at Bethesda Cemetery near the home where he had lived so many happy, though arduous, years. His wife of 42 years and seven children survived him.
Bertha's health was fragile; she suffered from spells of dizziness, which occasioned many losses of balance. She fell from bed one evening, striking her head and leading to a cerebral hemorrhage that took her life only five months after Jim had passed away, on April 19, 1947. Bertha was laid to rest beside her beloved Jim. The grieving family closed the longtime Foster home and went about the postwar years reestablishing their lives; their parents' grave remained unmarked, for the simple reason that no one could afford to have a stone placed. And time erased the omission from memory.
Now, almost 60 years since James passed away, we meet to rectify the omission. Among their children, only Thelma and James Kenneth survive to witness this event, and to do honor to the memory of their parents.
Written By: Roy O'Conner - Grandson
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