The spark plug who relentlessly promoted Gladwin from 1878 until his death in 1928, first as managing editor, then as owner and publisher of the Gladwin County Record. Also served in the State Senate 1909-1912, and as Gladwin town clerk & city mayor.

Funeral services for the late Eugene Foster were held from his late home which was filled with sorrowing friends and neighbors, representing all sections of the county and neighboring counties. The floral offerings were many. Rev. Leroy Whitney officiated.
The service was opened with the singing of "Nearer My God to Thee" by Miss Velma Ross and Mrs. W. A. Hopson. The minister read the Episcopal burial service, including the 90th Psalm, the 39th Psalm, and I Corinthians 15-20-58 verses, and then read the following obituary:
"Eugene Foster was born at Caroga, Fulton county, N. Y., Aug. 8, 1860. He passed away while working at his desk last Tuesday morning, Oct. 2, 1928, after a life of conspicuous usefulness. Sixty-eight years, one month and 24 days marked the span of his life.
"He came to Gladwin county in 1878 at the age of 18 and early assumed the duties of life which he carried courageously, patiently, and with kindly spirit untl death released him. Upon the death of hs father, he took upon himself the care of his mother and the other children, a responsibility he faithfully and lovingly carried until his mother's death in 1926.
"Before coming to Gladwin, he had learned the printer's trade and upon coming here took charge of the Gladwin County Record, and last March saw half a century of service in the management and direction of the paper.
"His public service has been long and untiring and conspicuous in faithful achievement. He has held the offices of school assessor, member of the school board, clerk of Grout township, clerk of Gladwin city five terms, postmaster under President Harrison, and mayor of Gladwin five terms. He was a member of the constitutional convention in 1907-8 which rewrote the constitution of the state of Michigan, and in 1909 he began two terms as state senator from the 28th senatorial district. He has been a member of the Gladwin County Republican committee since 1882 and chairman of the committee since 1892. This is a bare list of the trusted services he has rendered in faithful citizenship.
"Fraternally, he was a member of the F. & A. M., R. A. M., K. of P. O. E. S.. Foresters, Ben Hurs, Loyal Guard and Woodmen. His presence will be missed in all these orders.
"September 30, 1916. he was united in marriage to Cora W. Smith, and they have since made their home on West Cedar avenue. Though he will be missed in the office of the Record where his familiar figure has become a very part of the institution, and in the fraternal relationships which he graced, and in the public service which he was so conspicuous a factor, there is no doubt but that in that smaller circle of the home, of brother and sister and wife, the vacancy left by the passing of his gentle presence will be most evident.
"Early upon his coming to Gladwin, being the son of a minister, he identified himself with the local Methodist society; was a trustee for some time and active in the enterprise of the church. The influence of that early Christian home, no doubt accounts for his self effacing, kindly and self-sacrificing spirit which has been so evident during all the years of his service in the community he chose to make his home, which community is a better one for his having lived and served in it.
"His has been a life of rare service unselfishly given and his life and memory have been made rich by his devotion. It is a precious memory that he leaves behind.
"This brief word can best be closed by a brother's tribute paid him in the last issue of the Record, which his own hands helped prepare, and this is the word: (and nothing finer can be said of any man) —
"He will be sadly missed by those who loved him. He was always loyal and true. He never faltered in his endeavor to do that which he believed to be right. He never forgot a friend or a favor shown. He was in all respects a manly man, honest and God fearing, true to his own conscience, and the memory of his fathers. In the words of Paul he could say, 'I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.' "
After reading the above, Rev. Whitney said in part: "Having read the remarkable record of his life, any words that I might speak would seem utterly futile. Such a life needs no comment.
"He has walked among us in his gentle, kindly fashion, and we have scarcely recognized his true greatness. We best honor him today, not by anything that we may say, but by an inward and outward loyalty to the constitution he helped rewrite, the laws he helped to build, and to the ideals for which he stood.
"Personally, I have taken a good deal of satisfaction in the fact that he was a, minister's son. Another minister's son has made good; he has built for himself an almost indispensable place in the life of the community. I have no doubt that those qualities of gentle kindness, self effacement, and self sacrifice, which were so evident in his life, were fostered and were the result of his early training in that home in which his father was a minister of the gospel of Christ and his mother a 'mistress of the parsonage.'
"Was it not such qualities as these that St. Paul called 'the fruits of the Spirit?' No man can build these qualities into his life and not have his reward, not only in the hearts of the people with whom he lives, but also in the hand of God."
The service closed" with the singing of "Now the Laborer's Task is Over."
A large concourse of friends followed the body to the grave, where the Episcopal committal service was used at the grave and the Masonic ritual by the Masonic order. The Body was laid to rest in Highland cemetery where the genuine sorrow of the many friends and the many beautiful floral offerings bespoke the love and esteem in which he was held.
Honorary pall bearers were Judge Guy E. Smith, Robert Croskey, Frank Leonard, Richard Stephenson, Willard Walton and Wellington Wagar.
Active pall bearers were Glenn Wagar, Fred Leonard. Dr. F. E. Myers Laurin J. Budge, Thomas Ayre and Arthur Dann.
Relatives from out of town attending were Mr. and Mrs. Leland D. Mills and daughter Gwen,and Mrs. Bertha Mills of Atlanta and Harry Green of Midland.
Friends from other counties who attended were Mr. and Mrs. John Carter of St. Helen, Mr. and Mrs. Bert Benner of Flint, Hon. W. T. Yeo and Emil Bucholz of West Branch. Horace R. Clark of Lansing. Mr. and Mrs, T. W. Daniels, of Coleman, A. H. Bradley and Byron Burch of Midland.
Letters of condolence have been received from Gov. Fred W. Green, Hon. F. D. McKay, state treasurer, Hon. Nelson Sharp, justice of the supreme court, Hon. Oramel B. Fuller, auditor general, Miss Emma E. Bower, Detroit, James E. Davidson, Bay City, Hon. H. S. Karcher, Rose City, Harry Myers, of the Lapeer County Press, Mr. and Mrs. John Carter, St. Helen; John Randall, Mio Telegram; Floyd E. Perlberg of the Arenac Independent, published at Standish, Fred R. Keister of the Ionia News, Prof G. E. Chadwick, Lansing, Len W. Flighner of Nashville News and field director of Michigan Press Association, T. F. Marston, Bay City.