Anita G. Foster Taught, Was Reading Specialist

Anita G. Foster of Edgartown and formerly of Williamsville, N.Y., died Jan. 8.

Anita was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., a daughter of the late Abe and Harriet Greenberg. She grew up in Brooklyn and attended James Madison High School; while there she played the violin as a member of the New York City All-High School Orchestra. She took her undergraduate degree from New York University, and her master and doctorate degrees from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo. Anita researched gifted children's reading habits for her dissertation.

Anita taught elementary school for many years and became the reading specialist at Maple West Elementary School in the Williamsville Central School District in New York state. As the reading specialist, she organized and developed the school's reading center, which was cited by the State of New York Education Department as an outstanding and exemplary program. Upon retirement, the Maple West Elementary Primary Courtyard was opened and dedicated to Anita G. Foster.

In 1993 she was named Outstanding Alumna by the Department of Learning and Instruction at SUNY at Buffalo. She was the first president of the Alumni Association of the Graduate School of Education of SUNY at Buffalo.

Anita's first love was being with her family. She also loved to read and to listen to classical music, and was a great cook. Anita possessed a keen and outstanding eye for correct grammar and spelling. Indeed, she even found spelling mistakes in an early computer spell check program. Anita was the official proofreader for her family and for many friends and relatives. She also had the ability to write poems, on demand, for any occasion. Her poem Moving On was published in 2003 in An Anthology of Poems by Martha's Vineyard Writers.

Anita loved everything about the Vineyard -- her house, the people, the landscape and the ocean. She first came to the Vineyard on a sailing trip in 1975. Whenever off-Island, she could not wait to return to her Vineyard home. During her protracted illness, Anita was sustained and fulfilled by the beautiful Vineyard environment and by the love of her family and many friends in the Island community.

Anita is survived by her husband of 54 years, Herbert; her daughters, Donna of Charlotte, N.C., and Andrea of Germantown, Md.; her sister, Lenore Siegel of Madison, N.J.; her grandson, Alex Foster Katz; her son in law, Steve Katz, and several nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her sister, Edith Greenberg Krasnow.

Remembrances may be made to the Martha's Vineyard Hebrew Center Endowment Fund, 130 Center street, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568 or to the American Parkinson Disease Association, 720 Harrison avenue, Suite 7078, Boston, MA 02118.