Amerilis Ellen Foster

Amerilis Ellen Retting was born on April 25, 1931 to Otto and Velmer(Hahn) Rettig in Three Forks, MT. She was the youngest of 3 children. Shehad an older sister, Blanche Johnson, and brother, William (Bill) Rettig.She lived in various places around Montana, until she landed in Helenawhere she was hired at Vocational Rehabilitation as a receptionist/typist.She met her husband, Melvin Foster, at a church convention. After datingfor a bit, they were married on June 30,1956 in Helena, Montana.They had four children together: William, David, Kevin and Kimberly.The family moved to Alaska in December of 1974. Her husband, Melvin,moved first, and Amerilis followed behind with their children, pets, and all oftheir belongings. They managed to catch the last ferry of the season, inSeattle, WA, going to Skagway, AK.After living in Skagway for nine months as the co-manager of the Klondikehotel, she moved to Anchorage, AK. Here, she briefly worked for Sears,before transitioning to work in the government sector, where she was hiredby the Army Corps of Engineers to be the supervisor for the typing pool.She then moved to Kodiak, where her husband had transferred with his job,and worked for the National Marine Fisheries Service as an Administrative Assistant.She moved to Anchorage, Alaska in 1981, and in 1983 started working forthe Department of the Interior in the National Geological survey as anadministrative assistant.During that time, her husband Melvin passed away on December 3, 1985 inPalmer, Alaska. They were married for 29 years.She ended her career working for the Department of Energy, at the EklutnaPower Project as an administrative assistant. She was awarded numerousawards for her work.She stayed in Palmer, Alaska until she moved to Vancouver, Washington in2004. She resided there until her death on July 11th, 2023, surrounded by family.She is preceded in death by her mother, father, brother, sister and husband.She is survived by her 4 children: her son, Bill Foster and wife Laurie ofVancouver, WA; her son, David Foster of Portland, OR; her son, KevinFoster and wife Charlene of Alaska; and her daughter, Kim Hooser andhusband Ken of Gresham, OR; along with 10 grandchildren and 7 greatgrandchildren.

Amerilis Ellen Foster

April 25, 1931 - July 11, 2023