WINDHAM — Edward Irving Foster, 73, of Windham, passed away on Friday, Oct. 4, 2019, at Gosnell Memorial Hospice.

He had been hospitalized at Maine Medical Center following an automobile accident two weeks previous. He had been in ill health recently, and had been diagnosed with a debilitating form of dementia that he had struggled with for some years. His family was hopeful in recent weeks that he could be made comfortable in assisted living care, but the accident precluded that possibility. 

Ed was known all his life by his family as “Butch,” having been given that name as a toddler by his older brother, Norman Foster, who died in March 2015. A sister, JoAnn Baum, died in 2001.

Butch was born March 22, 1946, the son of Winthrop and Arlene Trumbull Foster of Bridgton and Denmark. He was named for his grandfathers, Ed Foster, who was a rural mail carrier for many years in Bridgton, and Irving Trumbull, who was a Maine Guide and lifelong prominent resident of Denmark. Butch spent his early childhood in Bridgton and South Paris, and graduated from Oxford Hills High School. He worked for some years as a commercial salesman with his father at the Norway Laundry. He married Laurel Arsenault in 1969. They had two sons, Shannon and Todd, and the family lived in Florida. After returning to Maine, Butch married Martha Small in 1985, and they had a son, Kevin. Butch remained in Maine, working for several medical supply and drug delivery companies, retiring about 2011.

He is survived by his three sons, Shannon Foster of North Carolina, Todd Foster of Florida, and Kevin Foster of New Hampshire; five grandchildren; his brother, Bruce Foster of South Paris; sister, Carol Morton of Washington State; numerous nephews and nieces; and three cousins including Kit Foster of Naples.

No service is planned. His remains will be interred with his parents in South Paris.