Foster helped establish HLDW

Joyce Foster is a charter member of Highland Lakes Democratic Women. She was born in Nocona and attended North Texas State Teachers College. Her dad, an oil field worker, was transferred to Andrews in West Texas. Joyce followed her parents and met her husband after he was discharged from the military. This year they will celebrate their 72nd wedding anniversary.

The Fosters lived in Andrews for 23 years where Joyce worked in a hospital and learned to take medical dictation. Realizing that there was a better career path working in law, Joyce became a legal secretary and eventually became a paralegal and a court reporter. Joyce was instrumental in organizing women’s Democratic clubs in both Andrews and Perryton.

The Fosters retired in 1986 and moved to Llano County. Joyce saw an article in the paper advertising a Christmas Party hosted by the Llano/San Saba/Burnet Democrats. This was the beginning of Joyce’s activism in the Hill Country. In the spring of 1987, there was a meeting at the home of Evelyn Kuhn to organize a women’s Democratic Club. Clara Lou Sawyer and Beverly Roberts were also very instrumental in the founding of the Highland Lakes Democratic Women.

At the National Federation of Democratic Women’s Convention in Austin in 1993, Ann Richards, Governor at that time, made two appearances and gave a speech. The ladies were invited to the Governor’s Mansion for afternoon tea.

Texas Democratic Women awarded Joyce the Humanitarian Award in 2004, a very distinguished honor.

The Fosters are awaiting the completion of a new home being built in Burnet. They have two daughters in the area and a son who lives in Houston.