‘I was where I belong’
Former foster kid remembers guardian who gave ‘a lot of love’
Carol “Cookie” Foster opened her heart, and her home, to many children over the years.
Jacqueline DeModena was one of them. She was 2 years old and had already lived in other foster homes when she arrived at Cookie’s Somerville doorstep.
She remembers feeling so loved. Cookie became her cherished Nana. They played card games and Cookie always had the best snacks. Cookie’s close friends, Kathy and Beto Lo Giudice, eventually adopted Jacqueline. They’re amazing parents, she said, who gave her a loving home.
“I felt like she was my Nana. I didn’t feel like I was in foster care,” Jacqueline told me yesterday. “I felt like I was where I belong. I felt like I was with family. There was a lot of love. She always just loved me.”
Cookie had cared for well over 100 foster children — her kids lost count — since the 1970s, her family said. On Sunday, Cookie died at age 80 after battling dementia.
Jacqueline and Cookie’s children are trying to connect with all of the foster kids Cookie cared for so they can attend her wake and funeral next week. They may hold a celebration-of-life service at a future date.
Jacqueline shared her own story and a heartfelt tribute to her beloved Nana in a Facebook post in the hopes of connecting with Cookie’s foster children. So far, two former foster kids have reached out.
“It would just mean a lot for the family and for her to know that she mattered,” Jacqueline said. “She did make a difference.”
Cookie didn’t have a lot of money, Jacqueline said, but she always “had tons of gifts for everybody” at Christmas. Cookie didn’t have a car, so she’d take the bus or walk to Kmart. Cookie’s home was full of laughter, love, board games, ice cream and sandwiches on Saturday nights.
“She loved all the kids,” said Jacqueline, 33, a married mother of two and professional singer. “Her heart was so big.”
Bob Ventura, 56, the oldest of Cookie’s four biological children, said his mother began fostering kids when she took in one of his friends who was already in another foster home.
“She never treated any of them any different from us,” Ventura said. “Nobody was any better than anybody else.”
Kathy Lo Giudice is forever grateful for Cookie for making her a mother.
“We may not have had any children if it wasn’t for her,” she said. “I’m just going to miss her terribly.”
Visiting hours will be held 4 to 7 p.m. Monday at the A.J. Spadafora Funeral Home, 865 Main St., Malden, and 9 to 10 a.m. Tuesday followed by a 10 a.m. service at the funeral home.