The FUNERAL SERVICE for Mr. Foster will be held at Hill and Son Funeral Home in Appleton City, Missouri on Saturday, November 1, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.

The MINISTER will be Reverend Ron Beaton.

VISITATION will be held at Hill and Son Funeral Home on Saturday, November 1, 2014 from 1:00 - 2:00 p.m. preceding service.

MILITARY GRAVESIDE services will be provided by the U.S. Navy and A. C. VFW Post #11242.

INTERMENT will be in Mt. Zion Cemetery, rural Rockville, Missouri.

If you would like to make donations for MEMORIALS, the family suggests either Mt. Zion Cemetery or Heartland Hospice.

Joel John Foster, named for both of his grandfathers, was born June 23, 1917 east of Rockville, Missouri in the Mt. Zion neighborhood. He was the first child born to Earnest Hubert and Nancy Jane (Underwood) Foster. He was later joined by a brother, Milburn. He passed away Thursday, October 30, 2014 at Appleton City Manor with his daughter and son-in-law by his side. He was 97 years old.

Joel attended school at Marionville, Missouri and Upper Monegaw. He started high school at Appleton City and during his freshman year, the school burned so he finished that year at Deepwater High School.

Joel's mother passed away in 1929, leaving two young sons. His father later remarried and to this union four sons were born. Two of them died in infancy.

Joel farmed with his father, brother and neighbors. He and his brother went to Colorado for one year and worked with an uncle's family.

On August 26, 1938 he was united in marriage to Bessie Aletha Snethen at the courthouse in Butler, Missouri. In the early 1940s, they moved to Kansas City and he worked for Certainteed Roofing, Cudahy Packing and at the time of his call to enlist, he was building airplanes in the American Royal Building. He entered the U. S. Navy in December of 1943 and was honorably discharged in January of 1945.

Joel and Bessie bought their farm east of Rockville in March of 1949 and lived there until 2010 at which time they moved into an apartment in Appleton City. After their health declined, they moved to Appleton City Manor in 2011. Bessie passed away February 27, 2012.

Joel, Bessie and two of their daughters were converted on June 28, 1953 and were baptized in Warner Allison's pond. They became faithful members of the Mt. Zion Church until it closed.

Joel was a member of the Appleton City VFW Post 11242.

Joel was preceded in death by his wife Bessie, mother, father, stepmother, brother Milburn, half brothers, Herbert and Dwayne, great-grandson Joseph Anthony Canseco, and son-in-law Clifford Blackwell.

He is survived by his five children: Barbara (Leslie) Carpenter, Appleton City, MO, Nancy (Douglas) Bradley, Grandview, MO, Shirley (Ron) McEwan, Appleton City, Larry (Letitia) Foster, Butler, MO, and Karen Harvill, Gainesville, GA; grandchildren: Leslie L. Carpenter, Cheryl Wyrick, Mark Bradley, Donna Canseco, Paul Blackwell, Scott Foster, Mary Ann Rosier, Brenda Whitworth, Sonja Simmons and Jerry Kay Harvill; twelve great-grandchildren; nine great-great-grandchildren.