Elsie Foster

Funeral Services for Elsie Benz Foster, 73 of Lancaster, California formerly of Dunn Center will be 1:00 p. m. Saturday, January 6, 2007 at St. John?s Lutheran Church in Killdeer with Pastor Aanen Gjovik officiating. Burial will follow at Peace Lutheran Cemetery, north of Killdeer. Visitation will be from 12:00 p. m. to 6:00 p. m. Friday, January 8, 2007, continuing on Saturday from 9:00 a. m. to 11:00 a. m. at Stevenson Funeral Home in Killdeer and one hour prior to service at the church. Elsie passed away on Monday, Dec. 11, 2006 at the Antelope Valley Hospital, Lancaster, CA. She was born on October 26, 1933 in Killdeer, ND, the second daughter of Frank and Barbara (Unterseher) Benz. Ellie attended Connolly School #2 and graduated from Dunn Center High School in 1951. Her advanced education included teacher training at Dickinson Teachers College (a certificate to teach elementary education in 1952 and the standard professional certificate in 1954). She taught rural elementary near Dunn Center in 1951-52 and from 1954-57 she was the third grade teacher in the Hazen North Dakota Public Schools. In 1957 she moved to Los Angeles, CA where she earned a certificate in the Sawyer School of Business. In LA she was employed as a secretary for an insurance company and then for the Union Oil Co. until 1961. In 1961 she married Norman Bennis Foster who was the factory representative on the space suits system being used in the tests of the X 15 program at Edwards Air Force Base near Lancaster. She and Norman divorced in 1976. In Lancaster, Ellie worked as a bookkeeper and stenographer in the CPA office of the Lancaster High School. From 1979-97 she was registrar until her retirement. In 1990 she was granted the outstanding services award of the Antelope Valley Union High School out of a field of more than 900 employees. She held membership in the Beta Eta Society, the PTA, High School Bank Boosters and the CA School Employees Assn. She was a member of Our Savior?s Lutheran Church in Lancaster. In 1994 she took a tour of the Holy Land with her sisters and a brother. She toured Germany and Switzerland and attended the Passion play in 2000. Ellie is survived by her son, Timothy William, his wife, Janel, and grandchildren, Cheyanne and Wyatt; two sisters, Irene Wilhelm of Circle, MT, Darlene Weisz of Ankeny, IA; three brothers, Harold (Rosa), of Killdeer, ND, Reuben, of Dunn center; Frank (Joyce) of Loveland, CO; six sisters-in-law, Leah Benz, Bismarck, ND, Ruby Benz, Dunn Center; Louise Benz, Bismarck; Peggy Benz, Killdeer; Marureen Benz, Dunn Center; and Sandra Benz, Killdeer; numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents and six brothers: Alvin, Walter, Leo, Bernard, Ernest and Henry.


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Burial Date: January 6, 2007
Funeral Home Killdeer, ND

Funeral Service: Saturday; St. John’s Catholic Church, Killdeer, ND