Dr. Pauline Poole Foster

June 20, 1922 - August 28, 2016

Dr. Pauline Poole Foster Counselor, Scholar, Teacher, Singer June 20, 1922-August 28, 2016 Pauline Poole Foster, a seventeen year resident at Beaumont Retirement Community in Bryn Mawr PA, died peacefully on August 28, 2016 at the age of 94. Pauline was born and grew up in West Long Branch, New Jersey. She was the youngest of eight children born to Albert and Bessie Covert Brown Poole. She graduated high school at the age of fifteen and majored in mathematics at Monmouth College in New Jersey. Pauline came from a musical family. She learned the lyrics for hundreds of songs, and hosted a local weekly radio show. She also sang with visiting big bands at the Asbury Park Convention Hall. After graduation from college, Pauline’s first job as a math teacher was at Manasquan High School in New Jersey where she was only two years older than her senior students. They were so impressed with her teaching skill and kindness that she was invited back to, and attended many of their subsequent high school reunions. Pauline met her husband, Donald E. Foster in a graduate calculus class. After her marriage in 1947, she moved with her family to Pennsylvania. She joined the faculty of Bala Cynwyd Junior High School in 1965 as a seventh grade math teacher. Pauline tried to inspire her students to see the beauty and the fun in math. She decided to become a school guidance counselor because she wanted to help students whose struggles with academic and personal issues affected their ability to succeed in school. Pauline earned a Master’s in Counseling at Villanova University in 1969, and became the guidance counselor at Bala Cynwyd. In 1986, after a Lower Merion High School student committed suicide, the students were upset, wanted someone to talk with, and requested their Junior High counselor, Mrs. Foster. She spent three days at the high school counseling approximately fifty students, helping them to deal with their grief, guilt and fear. At the time, a 16 year old student told the Main Line Times Newspaper, “We all love Mrs. Foster. Her office was always a very comfortable place to go and, if she wasn’t there, you could slip a note under the door and she would get back to you.” In the summer of 1986, Lower Merion School District reorganized student support services and created a department of counseling with Pauline as the Coordinator. Under her leadership, guidance counselors were added to the staff of the elementary schools and all district counselors were expected to offer “developmental counseling” (a type of counseling with an emphasis on dealing with personal concerns) in addition to what was typical for school counselors at the time---college applications, course scheduling, and processing standardized tests. In 1984, Pauline earned a Doctorate in History of Education at the University of Pennsylvania. Her dissertation was a biography of Philadelphia Quaker physician Ann Preston, M.D. (1813-1872), the first female professor and dean at Woman’s Medical College (now Drexel University College of Medicine). The dissertation highlighted Dr. Ann Preston’s struggle to obtain training and acceptance for women physicians. As a scholar, Pauline taught graduate courses under the auspices of the University of Pittsburgh and lectured at the University of Pennsylvania. After her retirement in 1989, Pauline enjoyed singing as the lead vocalist with the Sentimental Journey Jazz Quartet and with a big band in Wilmington Delaware. After the 1995 death of her husband Donald, Pauline moved to the Beaumont Retirement Community. She loved her home there and was active (as the clerk of the health care committee) in redesigning their health center. In retirement, her greatest joys were spending time with family, making and listening to music, winning at bridge, reading, and promoting education through her membership in and service to the educational sorority Alpha Delta Kappa. She is survived by her daughter, Kathy Foster Singer and her husband Walter Singer of Elkins Park, PA; her son, Michael John Foster and his wife, Julia Abrahams of Falls Church, VA; and grandchildren, Jennifer Lauren Singer and Benjamin Foster Singer. She was the widow of Donald Everett Foster. A memorial service was held on September 6, 2016 at Beaumont Retirement Community, Bryn Mawr, PA. Memorial contributions in Pauline’s name may be made to, the Beaumont Staff Scholarship Fund (c/o Mr. Joe Peduzzi), Beaumont Retirement Community, 601 N. Ithan Avenue, Bryn Mawr, PA, 19010.