FOSTER, Richard Harold "Dick"

Age 84, December 5, 1936 - July 15, 2021. Born in Aylesford into a life of farming. At the age of nine, “Dick” raised his own patch of strawberries and delivered them to the train headed to market in the city. He joked that he kept the receipt because he wasn’t sure his father would pay him for them. Aside from a short stint working on a road crew he spent his whole life on a small mixed farm. In the winter he would harvest wood to keep our family warm and mill lumber to make his own crates for summer strawberries and fall apples. Dad owned one of the first combines in the area and would spend weeks in the late summer heat harvesting grain for many farmers in the Valley and would often take the awkward combine up and down the steep bending roads of the north mountain. He was a quiet man with a good sense of humour that was often hidden under the responsibilities of life. Sometimes there's just no time to joke around, crops keep growing, the days fly by and the job has to get done. Leisure was a rare commodity on the farm when piglets were being born. He always found time to help out friends and neighbours and seemed to be constantly fixing somebody's old broken equipment. If parts could not be found, he would make them himself. He loved cats, maybe because he had so much in common with their nine lives. While he wasn’t a reckless person, farming is a tough and dangerous profession and Dad had his share of accidents that would likely do most people in. One time, while working on the house, he fell from the ladder onto the deck, he continued to work and six months later discovered that he had broken his back. It never stopped him. Another time while working in the woods on the south mountain, a fallen tree dislodged and pinned him to the ground. No problem, he grabbed a branch, hooked the chainsaw, pulled it in and cut himself free. He hobbled to the truck and drove himself home to get something to eat and have a bath before going to the hospital. His leg was broken and they wouldn’t let him drive home. In his greatest escape he was crushed by a ton of fertilizer, drug himself over 300 meters to the porch step and collapsed. Unconscious, he was rushed to Halifax by helicopter (it was the only time he ever flew). They said that it was unlikely that he would ever come out of the coma. He woke. They said he would need long, hard rehabilitation. Eight days later under his own power, he walked out of the hospital. When you hear someone say “they don’t make them like they used to”, they are talking about people like our father. Richard is survived by his wife, Margaret (Murphey) Foster who worked with him on their farm for their 60 years of marriage. He had four boys, Harold, Curtis, Barry and Todd and five grandchildren. He had three surviving sisters Joy, Bertha and Jenny (aka Bunny) whom he remained close to. Cremation has taken place. No visitation by request. Memorial service will be held at a later date. In his final days he received care from the exceptional staff at Valley Hospice, their kindness can not be overstated. Donations in memory can be made to Valley Hospice Foundation. He took little and gave so much, he will be missed. Arrangements have been entrusted to Middleton Funeral Home, 398 Main St.,, toll free 1-855-825-3448. Online guest book may be signed by visiting: www.middletonfuneralhome.com