Wylie Foster

Ancestors

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Heather Foster-McCullough [send private message]

Biography

Wylie Foster of the United States of America fought for South Vietnam in the Vietnam War
Service started:
Unit(s):
Service ended:

Wylie Foster is a Military Veteran.
Served in the United States He served Army, Air Force, & Signal Corps, 1950s --2000s,
and retired from the Army

Wylie was an Amateur Radio Operator, Callsign: KD4UP

Wylie was born in 1938 in Taloga, Oklahoma. At the time he was the youngest of four children. In 1940, he was 2 years old, still the youngest, and the family still lived in Taloga.^[1] Later that year, his brother Stephen was born, and four years later, the youngest, David, would be born.^[2]

Wylie was the only redhead in the family.

Known as Butch to his West Coast family, and Rusty to the East Coast--well, the South--his military career took him worldwide. His boisterous, friendly 'never met a friend he didn't like' attitude left him running into people he knew almost everywhere he travelled.

In 1964, he married his first wife, Nadine Lillie Clara Hale, in Alabama.^[3]. They had two children, a daughter, and son Wendell Foster. From his daughter he has two grandchildren and from his son he has not only a granddaughter, but three great grandchildren.

Wylie remarried in 1969 to the lovely young Olivia (Seaver) Foster and this union produced their one and only, this biographer, Heather (Foster) Foster-McCullough.

Wylie Foster was a lifelong member of the United States Military. He joined in the 1950s and retired from active duty to work in the military in a civilian role. He worked on many fantastic missile projects and, once retired, despite maintaining a full beard and long curls, he toured the tradeshows, demonstrating and working the crowds.

He was a man of the people and for him, time alone included 'just a small crowd.' His travels took him everywhere; he's probably been to every continent and then some. If you told him a secret, he took it with him. He was a jack of all trades and master of, actually, quite a few. (Except plumbing. To be the son of a Master Plumber.) From electronics to computers to woodworking to (so-called) horse-breaking and catching baby bunnies in his hands, he had the 'drop and give me 20' hard tack side' and the 'cry at a sad commercial' soft side. Truly, he was a Rennaissance man.

Wylie, Rusty, or Butch, however he was know, he was loved by all. He is still loved by many. Wylie died 2 Jan 2019 from Parkinson's that he developed due to Agent Orange exposure during his time in the Vietnam war. He was 100% combat disabled.

Sources

1. ↑ Source Citation Year: 1940; Census Place: Taloga, Dewey, Oklahoma; Roll: m-t0627-03291; Page: 1B; Enumeration District: 22-23 Source Information Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1940. T627, 4,643 rolls.
2. ↑ Source Citation United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790-2007; Record Group Number: 29; Residence Date: 1950; Home in 1950: Norman, Cleveland, Oklahoma; Roll: 6139; Sheet Number: 26; Enumeration District: 14-23 Source Information Ancestry.com. 1950 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2022. Original data: Department of Commerce. Bureau of the Census. 1913-1/1/1972. Population Schedules for the 1950 Census, 1950 - 1950. Washington, DC: National Archives at Washington, DC. Population Schedules for the 1950 Census, 1950 - 1950. NAID: 43290879. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, Record Group 29. National Archives at Washington, DC., Washington, DC.
3. ↑ "Alabama County Marriages, 1809-1950," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG1C-6HPW : 19 February 2021), Wylie Wendell Foster and Nadine L C Hale, 19 Sep 1964; citing Montgomery, Alabama, United States, County Probate Courts, Alabama; FHL microfilm 1,893,343.

• Personal Recollection, Aug 2018
• Personal Recollection, 2019
• Personal knowledge, 2023