Joe Reeves Foster was born September 23, 1940, to Lawrence H. and Alfredine Barnes Foster in Oklahoma City and passed away suddenly June 20, 2019, in Columbia, Missouri, following a heart attack.
The second of three children, he and his big brother, John (eighteen months older), were inseparable growing up. A bout with polio at age four left him thin and frail starting kindergarten, but he soon caught up.
He excelled in academics; graduated from Northwest Classen High School in 1958 and completed a B.S. degree in Math and Physics at OU. While stationed in Albuquerque for four years in the Air Force, he received a Master's degree from the University of New Mexico.
On leaving the Air Force, he immediately went to work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where he spent 33 years working on the Viking Mars Lander, Voyager multi-planet flybys, Ulysses (sun orbiter), Galileo (Jupiter orbiter), Magellan (Venus exploration), Cassini (Saturn probe) and evaluating data sent back from them and NASA Ocean Data System and the Planetary Data Repository.
In February 1998, he met Monica Woods on a solar eclipse cruise and they were married July 4th of that year in Los Angeles where they made their home. Upon his retirement, they moved to northern Missouri to enjoy the peace and quiet of the country.
He is survived by his wife, Monica; step-son, P.T. Woods of Novinger, Mo.; sister, Judith Andrews and her husband, Dane Marable, of Oklahoma City; nephew, William Andrews, his wife Nancy and their daughter Emily; all of Edmond; nephew, John Allen Foster, his wife, Abby and their son, Ian Alexander, sister-in-law, Marcia Foster, and former sister-in-law, Mary Gail Foster, all of Oklahoma City; and dear cousins, MaryScott Young of Florida, JimAnn Oliver of Texas and Priscilla Decker of Oklahoma City.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his elder brother, John Alfred Foster, and his niece, Teresa Kaye Andrews-Ayers.
No service is planned.
The second of three children, he and his big brother, John (eighteen months older), were inseparable growing up. A bout with polio at age four left him thin and frail starting kindergarten, but he soon caught up.
He excelled in academics; graduated from Northwest Classen High School in 1958 and completed a B.S. degree in Math and Physics at OU. While stationed in Albuquerque for four years in the Air Force, he received a Master's degree from the University of New Mexico.
On leaving the Air Force, he immediately went to work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where he spent 33 years working on the Viking Mars Lander, Voyager multi-planet flybys, Ulysses (sun orbiter), Galileo (Jupiter orbiter), Magellan (Venus exploration), Cassini (Saturn probe) and evaluating data sent back from them and NASA Ocean Data System and the Planetary Data Repository.
In February 1998, he met Monica Woods on a solar eclipse cruise and they were married July 4th of that year in Los Angeles where they made their home. Upon his retirement, they moved to northern Missouri to enjoy the peace and quiet of the country.
He is survived by his wife, Monica; step-son, P.T. Woods of Novinger, Mo.; sister, Judith Andrews and her husband, Dane Marable, of Oklahoma City; nephew, William Andrews, his wife Nancy and their daughter Emily; all of Edmond; nephew, John Allen Foster, his wife, Abby and their son, Ian Alexander, sister-in-law, Marcia Foster, and former sister-in-law, Mary Gail Foster, all of Oklahoma City; and dear cousins, MaryScott Young of Florida, JimAnn Oliver of Texas and Priscilla Decker of Oklahoma City.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his elder brother, John Alfred Foster, and his niece, Teresa Kaye Andrews-Ayers.
No service is planned.
Joe Reeves Foster was born September 23, 1940, to Lawrence H. and Alfredine Barnes Foster in Oklahoma City and passed away suddenly June 20, 2019, in Columbia, Missouri, following a heart attack.
The second of three children, he and his big brother, John (eighteen months older), were inseparable growing up. A bout with polio at age four left him thin and frail starting kindergarten, but he soon caught up.
He excelled in academics; graduated from Northwest Classen High School in 1958 and completed a B.S. degree in Math and Physics at OU. While stationed in Albuquerque for four years in the Air Force, he received a Master's degree from the University of New Mexico.
On leaving the Air Force, he immediately went to work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where he spent 33 years working on the Viking Mars Lander, Voyager multi-planet flybys, Ulysses (sun orbiter), Galileo (Jupiter orbiter), Magellan (Venus exploration), Cassini (Saturn probe) and evaluating data sent back from them and NASA Ocean Data System and the Planetary Data Repository.
In February 1998, he met Monica Woods on a solar eclipse cruise and they were married July 4th of that year in Los Angeles where they made their home. Upon his retirement, they moved to northern Missouri to enjoy the peace and quiet of the country.
He is survived by his wife, Monica; step-son, P.T. Woods of Novinger, Mo.; sister, Judith Andrews and her husband, Dane Marable, of Oklahoma City; nephew, William Andrews, his wife Nancy and their daughter Emily; all of Edmond; nephew, John Allen Foster, his wife, Abby and their son, Ian Alexander, sister-in-law, Marcia Foster, and former sister-in-law, Mary Gail Foster, all of Oklahoma City; and dear cousins, MaryScott Young of Florida, JimAnn Oliver of Texas and Priscilla Decker of Oklahoma City.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his elder brother, John Alfred Foster, and his niece, Teresa Kaye Andrews-Ayers.
No service is planned.
The second of three children, he and his big brother, John (eighteen months older), were inseparable growing up. A bout with polio at age four left him thin and frail starting kindergarten, but he soon caught up.
He excelled in academics; graduated from Northwest Classen High School in 1958 and completed a B.S. degree in Math and Physics at OU. While stationed in Albuquerque for four years in the Air Force, he received a Master's degree from the University of New Mexico.
On leaving the Air Force, he immediately went to work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, where he spent 33 years working on the Viking Mars Lander, Voyager multi-planet flybys, Ulysses (sun orbiter), Galileo (Jupiter orbiter), Magellan (Venus exploration), Cassini (Saturn probe) and evaluating data sent back from them and NASA Ocean Data System and the Planetary Data Repository.
In February 1998, he met Monica Woods on a solar eclipse cruise and they were married July 4th of that year in Los Angeles where they made their home. Upon his retirement, they moved to northern Missouri to enjoy the peace and quiet of the country.
He is survived by his wife, Monica; step-son, P.T. Woods of Novinger, Mo.; sister, Judith Andrews and her husband, Dane Marable, of Oklahoma City; nephew, William Andrews, his wife Nancy and their daughter Emily; all of Edmond; nephew, John Allen Foster, his wife, Abby and their son, Ian Alexander, sister-in-law, Marcia Foster, and former sister-in-law, Mary Gail Foster, all of Oklahoma City; and dear cousins, MaryScott Young of Florida, JimAnn Oliver of Texas and Priscilla Decker of Oklahoma City.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his elder brother, John Alfred Foster, and his niece, Teresa Kaye Andrews-Ayers.
No service is planned.
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