Robert Foster

LOMPOC, Calif. - Robert William Foster, 84, died Jan. 5, 2002, in Santa Maria.

Born Feb. 1, 1917, in Morley, Mo., he built his first cotton gin at age 18. In 1958, he relocated with his family to Solvang, where he managed the Santa Ynez Valley Grin Mill.

When Vandenberg Air Force Base began to grow, he joined Martin Marietta and later worked in administration for the Aerospace Corporation, moving to Lompoc in 1964. A founder of the Solvang Baptist Church and member of the First Southern Baptist Church in Lompoc, he attended church every Sunday for 46 consecutive years.

His wife, Mary Ann Adams Lompoc, survives of the home.

Other survivors include: two daughters and one son-in-law, Shirley and C.D. Burt of St. Charles, Mo., and Charlotte Adams of Denver, Colo.; one son and daughter-in-law, Bradley and Inetha Foster of Santa Maria; four sisters and two brothers; and five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Two brothers preceded him in death.

Friends may call from 4 to 8 p.m. today at Starbuck-Lind Mortuary in Lompoc.

Burial is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Lompoc Cemetery, followed by a memorial service at 4 p.m. at the First Southern Baptist Church of Lompoc.