By Sana Cole
The Scene staff
Linda Foster walks the halls of Forest Park with a bright smile, hiding the challenges she’s faced in the past year.
The 62-year-old student from North St. Louis completed an early childhood education degree in May while battling cancer.
“I didn’t want to be a hindrance to anybody, so I tried to get (chemotherapy and radiation) treatments on the days I didn’t have school,” she said.
Foster had enrolled at the college in 2009 after losing her job at a day-care center.
Her only son, Greg Robinson, 38, also of North St. Louis, wasn’t surprised by his mother’s perseverance.
“She can do anything she puts her mind to,” he said. “She’s strong. I just wanted to be able to take care of her. I wasn’t scared.”
After a bout with breast cancer in 1976, Foster was cancer-free for more than three decades.
Then she discovered blood in her stool in early 2012. Doctors diagnosed colorectal cancer.
“I was sick and didn’t know it,” she said.
The situation got worse after Foster began treatment. She was severely burned by radiation, causing nerve damage, and had to undergo three weeks of rehabilitation because she couldn’t walk.
Foster couldn’t take classes in the summer, but she was determined to return that fall.
“I thought, ‘I have to hurry up and get better so I can attend school in August,’” she said.
Foster has been touched by the help she has received from her son, as well as Forest Park students and teachers, but they insist she’s the one who has inspired them.
“She’s an amazing woman,” said general transfer student Stacy Halpin, 29. “She’s a really cool lady. I loved to help her out when I could.”
Foster was taking a sociology class with Haplin when she became ill.
Foster only missed five sessions of the class. Haplin made sure she got notes and assignments.
“I really admired her, and thought she was the type of student I needed to hang around,” Haplin said. “You hear lots of stories, but Linda is a special case.”
Early childhood education major Anita McNeil, 58, also pitched in. She took Foster home from school each day so she wouldn’t have to ride the bus.
“Even though she was ill, she was an encouragement to me,” said McNeil, who called her a “tough old bird.”
McNeil and Foster had met in 2009 in a child growth and development class. They became friends, partly because both were “seasoned” students.
They studied and ate lunch together and encouraged each other. McNeil said God helped Foster stay on track, despite the cancer.
“She’s a walking, talking, living testimony,” McNeil said. “I was just glad (God) placed her in my life. I was supposed to be an angel for her, and she was an angel to me.”
Foster grew up in Edwardsville, Ill. She is the second oldest of 11 children. Her dad worked for Granite City Steel, and her mother was a nurse.
“(My parents) taught me good work ethics,” she said. “(They said) don’t sit around and wait for anyone to hand you anything.”
Foster attended Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, but she got married and pregnant during her first year and left college. The marriage ended in divorce eight years later.
Foster married her second husband, Alvin, in 1984. They later moved to St. Louis, where he was shot and killed during a “drug transaction” in 1991.
“It gets easier, but you never forget,” she said.
Foster worked as a tutor for people who were physically and mentally disabled until the owner of a Peers Unlimited day-care center in her neighborhood offered her a job.
She found her calling as a teacher and became a “second mother” to students.
“I made sure the kids were fed,” she said. “I would give them money and do their hair. I would take my money and go to the Goodwill and buy clothes if they needed them. Those kids still come by my house.”
Foster worked extensively with one little girl named Tamara Greer, who had a hearing problem. She got her help through the Special School District of St. Louis County.
“I just like to help people,” Foster said. “(Tamara’s) mother didn’t know there were programs out there. If there is any knowledge I have to help a person, that’s what I do.”
Darlene Greer, 52, is grateful for the intervention.
“My daughter just graduated from high school, and she’s on her way to nursing school,” she said.
The day-care center closed in 2004 after the owner died. Foster tried to find another job, but she was at a disadvantage without a college degree. That’s why she enrolled at Forest Park.
Outside of school, Foster enjoys listening to rhythm and blues and working in the food pantry at Northern Missionary Baptist Church.
She still is dealing with nerve damage but remains optimistic. She plans to take more classes in the fall.
“The devil tried to throw a fork in the road, but God always prevails,” she said.