Just Stopped by to say "Hi"

[Dean Romig]

I was out at CVS on the corner of Main and Chestnut Streets to pick up some ice packs for Kathy who underwent rotator cuff surgery yesterday and it occurred to me that William Harnden Foster lived on Chestnut street until his death in 1941. He was at a New England Grouse Dog championship in Connecticut when he was stricken with a massive heart attack and was dead when he hit the ground.

In any case, the thought prompted me to stop by his grave site on my way home just to say "Hi" and make sure all was well with his headstone... especially after we have seen what happened to the Parker family headstones. Well, Bill Foster's headstone is in fine shape and shows no sign of damage or vandalism.

Foster died a little more than seventy years ago and that period of time is finally coming into perspective the older I grow... it wasn't really that long ago and we are darned lucky to have had such a man whom we can count among the ranks of some of the greatest sportsmen ever. Foster was an artist, author, editor of two magazines, co-inventer of "Skeet", innovator of the early L.L. Bean sneak boat... the list goes on and on.


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