Ruby Jean (Reehle) Foster, RN, of Glen Carbon, formerly of Litchfield, died on Monday, Sept. 2, 2024, two days before her 96th birthday.
Memorial service and reception will be held at Meridian Village in Glen Carbon on Friday, Sept. 13, at 10:30 a.m.
Mrs. Foster was born on Sept. 4, 1928 in Palmyra, NE, the daughter of William Jacob and Edith Bucholz Reehle. She married Dr. James T. (Jim) Foster, and they shared 61 years together before he preceded her in death in 2012. When she was 11, her mother died and she relocated to St. Louis early in WWII with her father and sister. She graduated from high school in 1945 and, at age 16, entered the last class of the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps, studying and working as a charge nurse on the St. Louis City Hospital wards for three years. After graduation in 1948 as an RN, she remained at St. Louis City Hospital. It was at a nurses’ dance where she met her husband, who was a medical student at the time.
Her husband’s internship and U.S. Air Force service took them to Miami, FL and Sacramento, CA. After he was discharged, they relocated to Manhattan Beach, CA. She worked as head nurse on a male surgery ward at what is now Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, while her husband took residencies in the new field of radiology, focusing on imaging and cancer therapy. She later worked in his medical office, administering X-rays, typing reports and delivering them in their Austin-Healy Sprite convertible
After relocating to Litchfield in 1962, where they would live until 2008, Mrs. Foster volunteered in the Women’s Auxiliary, serving as president for two years, while her husband established the imaging center at St. Francis Hospital. When Medicare started in the 1970s, she set up and managed her husband’s medical billing. After retiring, she volunteered for ten years in a county hospice program and served ten years in the Ombudsman Program for the Illinois Department of Aging,advocating for residents in nursing homes.
In 1970, the couple built a home on Lake Lou Yaeger where they enjoyed boating, waterskiing and birdwatching. They traveled throughout the U.S. and abroad, including a memorable Kenyan safari. The couple were longtime members of Zion Lutheran Church in Litchfield, where she taught Sunday School.
For the last 16 years of her life, Mrs. Foster lived at Meridian Village in Glen Carbon. She connected with many of the staff, encouraging their ongoing education, and telling them of her early days in nursing. In her last years, she enjoyed meeting with young nursing students through the RN and MSN courses taught by her friend Vickie Rogers at Lewis and Clark Community College. She urged them to “be good nurses.” She was invited into the Greater St. Louis Honor Flight, a 2018 day trip to Washington D.C. to tour the monuments that have been built in veterans’ honor.
She is survived by her brother, Maurice (Butch) Reehle; 12 nieces and nephews; and many great-nieces and nephews.
In addition to her parents and husband, she was preceded in death by her sister, Darlene Lakes, in 2021.
Memorials may be made to HSHS St. Francis Hospital in Litchfield.
