William W. "Bill" Foster, age 79.

Bill passed away at his home in Haddonfield, NJ surrounded by his loving family on Monday, June 1, 2020.  He had fought bile duct cancer and lost.

Bill is survived by his wife of fifty-five years, Elizabeth (nee Cleaver) as well as five children, William J., Jennifer Walsh, Peter M., Patricia M. (McClaren,) and John E.  He and his wife also have eleven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

After attending Woodbury High School, Bill enlisted in the Air Force and was deployed to Okinawa where he ran the power plant. Shortly after discharge, he met his future wife and began his career at Cummins Diesel Engines, Inc. Later, he was employed by the State of New Jersey, and Parsons, Inc. as a Technical Support Supervisor.

Funeral service and interment is private for family.  Donations in Bill's memory may be made to: https://cholangiocarcinoma.org/donate

Arrangements by the FOSTER-WARNE FUNERAL HOME, Collingswood and Audubon, NJ.

Bill loved life!  He loved books, old movies, music of all kinds, crossword puzzles, growing tomatoes in his garden and his dog Maggie Mae.  He loved fishing and he loved eating seafood.

I can see him now, just home from the shore with a cooler full of fish.  Usually he'd cleaned them before he brought them home.  Sometimes he even traded a few fish for a dozen ears of corn.  He'd turn on his music - anything from Pavarotti to Johnny Cash and crack a cold beer.  Then he'd sing along and cook.  He was in his happy place...

Bill loved his family: five kids, all eleven grandkids:  Patrick, Gabrielle, Tracey, Suzanne, Melissa, Natalie, Daniel, Billy, Thomas, Ethan and Tilly, and his great grand-daughter Ava.  His favorite day of the year was Christmas Eve because they all came.

I used to say that if I were ever in an emergency situation, I'd be ok if Bill was there too.  There were not many times in his life that a challenge overcame him.

Before we were married, we were out on Great Bay in his new fishing boat when a storm blew in.  Waves were fifteen feet walls of water!  Radio? No.  Just a compass, but he piloted those rough waters as if he did it every day.

After we were married a couple of years, we needed a roof on our old house.  Friends helped take the old tiles off, but he had to put the new ones on himself.  Every night after work he climbed the ladder.  It took the whole summer, but he finished in time for our week's vacation.

Much later, when most of the kids were grown, we discovered bees in one wall of the house.  Lots of bees!  The bedroom door was kept shut for a couple of weeks while he researched and made his plan.  No one would help.  Beekeepers, fumigators... All said "No!"He scored a section of the wall at a time and attached a shelf to hold  a room fumigator, knocked out the section and ran out of the room.  By the end of the day, there were bags and bags of bees to haul away.  No discussions... just action.  That was Bill.

Finally, though, he met a challenge that he couldn't beat: Bile duct cancer.  He sure tried, though.