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COVID-19 Archive

Images and Stories from Vermont

David Douglas Foster, 71, Middlebury

Title

David Douglas Foster, 71, Middlebury

Description

RUTLAND — David “Dizzy” Foster passed away Dec. 9, 2020, at Rutland Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center from the effects of COVID-19. He was 71.

Born Nov. 11, 1949, in Burlington to Ester Douglas and Benjamin Foster, David grew up in Middlebury, Vt., and played the trumpet whenever he could. During his education at the University of Vermont, he played his trumpet in a rock band all over New England and New York. He also served in the Vermont National Guard band.

Post-college he started his own dairy farm in Weybridge, Vt. Unfortunately, at the young age of 25 David was in a horrific car accident that left him with a traumatic brain injury. Despite being told he would never walk again, he not only walked but also managed to care for his only daughter part-time as a single dad.

He worked on the Foster Family Farm and made delicious homemade ice cream for Calvi’s for many years. The lights of his life were his three grandsons. He would travel once a week to Monkton to bring them a gallon of chocolate milk and play endless hours of games with them.

As he aged, his brain injury made independent living more difficult and in 2012, he moved to Rutland Healthcare and Rehab Center, where he would reside for the remainder of his life. Even as he struggled with COVID-19, David’s sense of humor kept the staff there on their toes and chuckling. A large thank you to the staff that cared for David in his final week.

He is survived by his daughter Sarah Oliviera and her sons Caleb, Ethan and Reilly, and Sarah’s partner James Kababik and his daughter Brooklyn; his brother Theodore Foster, his wife Deborah Foster and their three children, Adam, Owen and Eric and their families; and his sister Louella Proctor, her husband Charles Proctor and their three children Joy, Mindy and Jeremy.
David will be greatly missed.

Contributions in his memory can be made to the Brain Injury Association of Vermont, PO Box 482, Waterbury, VT 05676, biavt.org.◊

Creator

Anonymous

Date

Dec. 9, 2020

Contributor

Anonymous

Spatial Coverage

Collection

Citation

Anonymous, “David Douglas Foster, 71, Middlebury,” COVID-19 Archive, accessed December 14, 2024, https://covid-19.digitalvermont.org/items/show/584.