Benjamin Griswold Foster

GOSHEN — Benjamin Griswold Foster of Goshen, treasured husband and father, died on Oct. 29, 2020, at Hartford Hospital. Born on Jan. 3, 1936, in Morristown, N.J., he was the son of H. Lincoln Foster and Mary Reginald Foster, both of Morristown.

In early childhood his family moved from Morristown to live in Goshen and Norfolk. He attended the Norfolk Center School until his family moved to Falls Village, where he attended the Lee Kellogg School. He graduated with high honors from Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village, in 1954. 

In high school he served as editor of the school newspaper and in his senior year co-editor of the high school yearbook. He was a member of the track team and the National Honor Society.

He attended Williams College, Williamstown, Mass., graduating in 1958. In college he was an associate editor of The Purple Cow, a literary and humor magazine. He played tennis and squash racquets during his college years.

After college he worked for the Macmillan Publishing Co. in its college text division, spending time in its 60 Fifth Ave. offices and traveling to colleges and universities in Western states.

In 1960 he won a National Defense Act (Title IV) fellowship to study for his doctorate in English at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. He earned an M.A. in 1961 and Ph.D. from the university in 1965. In 1964 he taught at Pace University in New York City.

In the fall of 1966 he sailed with his family to the Middle East, where for three years he was assistant professor of English at the American University of Beirut in Beirut, Lebanon. While in Lebanon he and his family lived through the Six Days War of June 1967, when Israel attacked the Arab countries. He and his family were forced to escape from Lebanon and spent several months in Europe. At the end of his three year appointment in Beirut he returned to the United States, where he took a position as teacher of English and coach of tennis and squash at the Choate School in Wallingford, Conn., a position he held until his retirement in 1996.

During his years teaching in Wallingford he was a member of the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and served on its vestry.

He continued to work after his retirement, as an adjunct professor of English at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Conn., and as a tennis professional in Wallingford and at the Megunticook Golf and Tennis Club in Camden, Maine. During this time he also wrote instructional articles for Tennis magazine.

In his senior years he played competitive tennis in the New England senior circuit, playing in several state championships, and earning the ranking of #3 in singles and #1 in doubles in his 50s.

In 1998 he and his wife, Zay, found a country property in Goshen for their retirement. With some research, Foster learned that this property had belonged to his grandparents in the early years of the 20th century. During his years in Goshen, he attended the Trinity Milton Episcopal Church in the Milton area of Litchfield, Conn., the same church his grandparents had attended in their years in Goshen.

After retiring from Choate, he and his family spent the winter months on Jekyll Island, Ga., where Foster taught landscape painting and exhibited his paintings in galleries in the South. His landscape painting became a second career and he also exhibited in several galleries in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

He is survived by his loving wife, Zay; three devoted sons Jeremiah and his wife, Annika, Caleb and his wife, Christina, and Nathaniel and his wife, Karilyn; a stepson, Theodore Borman and his wife, Virginia; as well as eight exceptional and delightful grandchildren.

He was predeceased by his sister, Rebecca Foster Light of Guilford, Conn.

A family memorial celebration of his rich and creative life will be held in the summer.

Memorial donations may be sent to the Goshen Land Trust.