WINDHAM – Edward Irving Foster of Windham, Maine, age 73, passed away Friday, October 4, 2019, at Gosnell Memorial Hospice. He had been hospitalized at Maine Medical Center following an auto accident two weeks previous. He had been in ill health recently, and had been diagnosed with a debilitating form of dementia that he had struggled with for some years. His family was hopeful in recent weeks that he could be made comfortable in assisted living care, but the accident precluded that possibility.

Ed was known all his life by his family as Butch, having been given that name as a toddler by his older brother Norman Foster, who died in March 2015. A sister JoAnn Baum died in 2001. Butch was born March 22, 1946, the son of Winthrop and Arlene Trumbull Foster, of Bridgton and Denmark, Maine. He was named for his grandfathers, Ed Foster who was a rural mail carrier for many years in Bridgton and Irving Trumbull who was a Maine Guide and life-long prominent resident of Denmark. Butch spent his early childhood in Bridgton and South Paris, Maine and graduated from Oxford Hills High School. He worked for some years as a commercial salesman with his father at the Norway Laundry. He married Laurel Arsenault in 1969, they had two sons Shannon and Todd and the family lived in Florida. After returning to Maine Butch married Martha Small in 1985 and they had a son Kevin. Butch remained in Maine, working for several medical supply and drug delivery companies, retiring about 2011.

Besides his three sons—Shannon Foster and wife Barbi of North Carolina with their two sons Cole and Wyatt, Todd Foster and partner Brian Luongo of Florida, and Kevin Foster and wife Samantha and their children Madelyn, Brynn and Benjamin of New Hampshire—Butch is survived by his brother Bruce Foster and wife Betty of South Paris, and sister Carol Morton of Washington State, brother-in-law Tom Baum of Florida, numerous nephews and nieces, cousins Kit Foster of Naples, Jo Harmon of Cumberland Foreside and Nan Kollias of Yarmouth. Butch remained close to his brother-in-law Paul Arsenault of Norway, Maine. As well, Henri and Amy Brady of Windham were landlords and friends, and were supportive for many years, especially in his retirement. No service is planned. His remains will be interred with his parents in South Paris.

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