 4th Addition, Section 2   Viola Foster 1889 - 1945 Lawrence Foster 1881 - 1985  Lawrence Foster was born on a farm in Mount Judea, Arkansas on June 15, 1881. At the age of 24, he married a 16 year old neighbor, Viola Heffley, and in 1919 loaded his wife and six of his daughters in a covered wagon and headed for Oklahoma. They left in November and the trip took more than a month because there was a lot of rain and they couldn't ford the creeks. In the mean time the Foster family would pick cotton in the nearby fields. They spend two years farming in Oklahoma, because there was a lot of sickness there, they moved to Collinsville, Texas. After getting established in Collinsville, he started a syrup mill, a trade he had learned in Arkansas. He sold the syrup for 25 cents a gallon during the poor years. He once paid $25.00 and 125 gallons of syrup for a mule. Lawrence moved to Tioga in 1932, and said that at the time "Tioga was a pretty fast town". At that time there were several grocery stores, a dry goods store, barber shop, a skating rink and a picture show that would draw 50 to 75 people every Saturday night. Lawrence lived to be 104 years of age and his philosophy was "working hard and being careful". Lawrence at 100 did not need eyeglasses, used no cane and ate what he pleased, and even at that advanced age, saids he felt as good as he did at 25. He launched a second career of carpentry at 65 when most people were hanging up their tools. He worked as a carpenter until he was 83, even building the house he lived in for many years. He is much remembered for setting in his porch swing and waving to his friends as they drove by.   Collinsville Cemetery Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson CountyTXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |