Donald Foster

Donald W. “Don” Foster, who lived on the Western Slope for most of his life, died on August 14, 2026, in Grand Junction from complications of Alzheimer’s Disease. He was 85.

Don was born on May 2, 1941, in Pueblo, Colorado to Herb and Abigail Foster. He graduated from Centennial High School in Pueblo and attended Pueblo College. In 1959, Don married his high school sweetheart, Nancy Ann Griffee. She passed away in April this year.

Don was a machinist, building on experience as a gas station mechanic during high school and a stint as a machinist mate in the U.S. Navy. His work as an equipment inspector for Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company took him and his family to Louisiana and Ohio in the 1970s. Don’s career peaked with 20 years’ work as a machinery reliability expert supporting operations in the petroleum industry. Clients and employers included UNOCAL Company at Parachute and ARCO Chemical Company in Clear Lake, Texas. In addition, Don was an entrepreneur who owned and operated a number of businesses that included running the Handy Dan’s Mini Market and Mountain Man Deli and Convenience Store in Clifton, and outfitting backcountry pack trips in the San Juan Mountains. Don and Nancy retired to Hotchkiss in 2005 and lived there until 2022.

Until late in life, Don was an active youth services volunteer, work that began with activities involving his four sons. For example, he was a leader with the Boy Scouts of America in Palisade and later in Ohio. He coached Old Timer’s Association baseball in Palisade while his boys played. In later years, he was a leader in 4-H program (shooting sports) in Eagle County and Delta County and was a Senior Partner with the Partners Organization in Palisade and Hotchkiss. In addition to teaching hunter safety courses for youths and adults for the Colorado Division of Wildlife, Don participated in the Men’s Club of the Hotchkiss Methodist Church and for years volunteered with the church’s food bank.

Throughout his life, Don was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed camping, fishing and hunting. He loved riding and packing his mules in the high country and was appreciated by family and friends as a skilled camp cook, storyteller and reciter of cowboy poetry. He took yearly hunts for deer and elk and holds the record for the largest black bear killed in Colorado. He also made several trips to Alaska’s North Slope to hunt bears, caribou, moose and wolves – and made four trips through Canada and Alaska with Nancy to enjoy the landscape, wildlife and Northern Lights.

Don’s survivors include his children, Christi Whittemore (Ned) of Costa Mesa, CA; Glenn (Jane) of Vernal, UT; Adam (Angie) and Randy of Grand Junction; and Dave of Collbran. His grandchildren are Glenn’s son Jared (Jackie), of Vernal, UT, and Adam’s children, Ashley Gates (JayR) of Utah; Chris (Aimee) of California; Chance of Grand Junction; Cole (Lorraine) of Texas; and Taylor of Arizona. Don also had numerous great- and great-great grandchildren and was preceded in death by his brother Alan Foster of Grand Junction and sister Diane Holmes of Columbus, OH.

Don and Nancy’s children plan to hold a small, private celebration of life for their parents in the fall. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to HopeWest, hopewestco.org.