Edith K. 'Chuckie' Foster, 82

Edith K. "Chuckie" Foster died of Alzheimer's disease May 5, 2005, at Riverside Senior Living in Whitefish. She was 82.

Helene Edith Kjemperud was just "Chuckie" for most of her life, and she never really knew why. So it was fitting, perhaps, when she married Gerald R. "Skinny" Foster on Oct. 7, 1944. They'd grown up in tiny Littlefork, Minn. - and with names like that, they belonged together.

In 1950, Chuckie and Skin moved to Whitefish, where they raised five children. Skin worked in the woods, and Chuckie worked as an X-ray and lab technician for many years. In their retirement, they built a house on Lost Coon Lake, where Chuckie planted a boulder garden - no little rock garden for her! - that bloomed from early spring until the snow flew.

When she wasn't outside weeding, mowing or shoveling, she was inside, cleaning, sewing and cooking. She rarely sat still, but when she did, she enjoyed a cup of tea or a Squirt and a game of cards. In the evenings, she and Skin would often sit quietly by the fire, reading.

You couldn't leave Chuckie's house hungry. She spent days preparing for holidays, rolling out perfect rounds of lefse, frying rosettes and generally fussing about. But she would have eaten a bowl of fresh strawberries and whipped cream and called it a perfect meal.

She could be stern, but Chuckie had a silly sense of humor that often got the best of her. Hurling a Latin insult at an opponent in a card game, her cheeks would turn bright red, her turquoise eyes would sparkle and her white hair would seem to grow even whiter.

Recently, Alzheimer's disease forced Chuckie to give up much of what she loved. She was unable to garden, cook, sew or play cards. She no longer attended services at Christ Lutheran Church, where she was a member for 55 years. But she still laughed, right up to the end.

Chuckie leaves behind her beloved husband, Skin; sister, Marie Wardell; her five children and their spouses, Patty and Philip Battaglia, Kit and Dennis Hagenston, Ike and Kym Foster, Beth Schenck and Will Saltonstall and Anita and Todd Malone; nine grandchildren, Adam and Melanie, Arthur and Anna Hagenston, Nathan and Jenny Foster, Ivy and Kevin Thompson, Ericka and Ian Smith, Katie Schenck, and Sean and Danny Malone; and seven great-grandchildren.

Chuckie's memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Monday, May 9, at Christ Lutheran Church in Whitefish.

In lieu of flowers, the family would request donations to Hospice or the Alzheimer's Association.