Janet Franklin Foster (nee Davies) was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on February 10, 1949 and died in Moreland Hills, Ohio, on March 9, 2017. Janet was a teacher, artist, poet and mother. She graduated from Toronto Teachers’ College in 1969, and taught second grade students in the Toronto public school system for eight years, during which time she married her high school sweetheart, Tom Franklin. They had two children together, Adam and Laura. With a desire to combine her love of education with her love for art, Janet went back to school for a second degree, graduating from the University of Toronto with a BA in Fine Art. Tom Franklin died unexpectedly in 1995. Janet helped launch a pioneering After-Four educational program in her Leaside/Bennington Heights neighborhood school, a program she managed for more than a decade. Throughout her life, she expressed her artistic talents in multiple media, from hand-sewn puppets, to collage, to oil on canvas, to 3-D sculptures. She was a gifted writer, in poetry, short stories and journals, revealing her curiosity about everyday life, nature, and the human condition. A passionate gardener, Janet planted, rescued, tended, photographed – and rejoiced in – the natural world around her.

She found a partner in faith and in life with Richard Foster. In 2003, Janet and Richard were married on Molokai, Hawaii. In 2010, Janet was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. She chose to pursue a holistic, naturopathic course of care. With periods of near-miraculous remission, she and Richard were gifted with seven more years of active life together until her death 2017.

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