Tehama County

Biographies

 

GLENN L. FOSTER

Glenn L. Foster, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce at Red Bluff, brings to this position the qualities so essential for an incumbent of the office. He has the faculty of meeting people pleasantly and of adequately furnishing desired information, combined with the powers of organization that underlie successful promotion work. A native of Ohio, he was born August 2, 1872, and is a son of Melville E. and Amelia A. (Marsh) Foster. The father's birth occurred in Wayne county, Ohio, April 30, 1842, and the mother was born in Lorain county, Ohio, September 10, 1844. Melville E. Foster was educated for the practice of medicine but about the time he qualified therefor he joined the army for service in the Civil war. Following his military experience he turned his attention to agricultural pursuits, in which he continued until his death, on the 22d of December, 1884. His wife was graduated from Oberlin College of Ohio and possessed considerable musical talent as well as much culture and refinement.

Glenn L. Foster pursued his early education in the common schools of Ohio and then entered Oberlin College, where he took a special course. He afterward followed farming for several years and then made his way westward to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he entered the newspaper field, working from 1898 until 1929 along that line. Within that period, covering about three decades, he was identified with the Portland Journal for some time and also engaged in newspaper work in Montana, Minnesota, Wyoming, Edmonton and Saskatoon, Canada, and in California. It was on the 28th of February, 1921, that he arrived in this state and for a period he was connected with newspaper interests in Red Bluff. In 1929 he was chosen as the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce here and renders to the organization efficient and valuable service.

On the 26th of March, 1898, Mr. Foster was married to Miss Louise I. Anderson, of Minneapolis, Minnesota, who passed away in Butte, Montana, leaving two children: Melville E., who is now engaged in the radio business in Minneapolis; and Dorothy R., the wife of R. I. Giles and the mother of a son, Robert W., now six years of age. For his second wife Mr. Foster chose Miss Goldie I. Nelson, of Billings, Montana, and their children are Vyrl V. and Myrl, twins.

Mr. Foster belongs to the Christian Science Church in Red Bluff and also the mother church in Boston. Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having membership in its three branches at Red Bluff. In politics he casts an independent ballot, supporting men and measures rather than party. His life proves the truth of the Emersonian philosophy that the way to win a friend is to be one, and his popularity is based upon a cordial manner, genial disposition and kindly sympathetic nature.