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Roanoke Times, Virginia, 14 October 2020
Tonita Foster
July 27, 1944 ? October 9, 2020
Williamsburg, VA.
Tonita Minge Foster (Toni), 76, died peacefully at Hospice House of Williamsburg on Thursday, October 8, 2020, after a brief illness. A Dean's List graduate of the University of Richmond with a BA in psychology, she continued her education at George Washington University Law School, and received an LLB degree in 1969. Toni was one of the first women in Virginia to become a lawyer, and established two legal aid clinics in Newport News and Roanoke. She was a strong advocate for women's rights, and pioneered many causes including special education compliance, fathers' rights, and access to the court system for "the working poor."
Toni was born and raised in Jacksonville, Fla. She is survived by her husband, Donald Foster, of Roanoke and Williamsburg; two sons, Christopher A. Warren (Susan) of Fairfax, Va.; David G. Foster (April) of Chesapeake, Va.; and two brothers, Edward Minge (Claudia) of Covington, Ga., and Jack Minge (Rosemary) of Jacksonville, Fla. She is also survived by four grandchildren (Walker Warren, Ellie Warren, Jackson Foster, and Cole Foster).
Toni began her legal career in 1970, working for the Model Cities Program in Norfolk, Va. She concurrently served as the Assistant Director of the Legal Aid Clinic in Richmond, and served two terms on the Newport News City Council. She established her first legal aid clinic in Newport News in 1974, and also taught classes in Poverty Law at the University of Richmond, the College of William and Mary, and Norfolk State University.
In 1977, she moved to Roanoke to raise her family and establish her second legal aid clinic. While operating a busy and successful law practice, she was also very generous in providing pro bono legal services to an underserved community. She retired in 2012, and moved with her husband, Don, to Williamsburg to be closer to her dearly loved children and grandchildren.
Toni loved reading, was an active tennis player throughout her life, and enjoyed living in rural and scenic Roanoke. She maintained close relationships with her extended friends and family in Virginia, Florida, and Georgia, and traced her family tree back to colonial times and the Weyanoke Plantation in Charles City County, Va.
A Celebration of Life memorial will be announced at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that contributions be made in her memory to National Federation of the Blind in Virginia, 6103 Mooretown Road, Williamsburg, VA, 23188. Funeral arrangements will be handled by Currie Funeral Home with details posted at "www.curriefuneralhome@verizon.net.
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Bassett Family Association Database
1944 - 
d. 28 Jan 1964 (Age 57 years)