Milton C Foerste

Milton (Milt) Christ Foerste passed peacefully on November 10th, 2025, at the age of 85 with his family by his side. He was born on January 26th, 1940, and is preceded in death by parents, Clifford and Hulda Foerste, sister, Charlotte Smith and nephew, Russell Smith of St Louis, MO. He is survived by his loving wife of 63 years, Mary Ann; devoted son, Christopher and his family; daughter-in-law Tammy, and grandsons, Christopher Cole and Wyatt Drew of Keysport, IL; and adoring daughter, Ann Marie, son-in-law, Chris, and two granddaughters Ashley Ann and Audrey Jane of Dallas, TX.

Milt came from the humblest of beginnings in Addieville, IL and through determination, meticulous planning, and hard work built an amazing legacy for his family. Milt always excelled academically and athletically and graduated with honors from Elmhurst College where he was a member of Pi Gamma Mu and the first President of the Delta Mu Delta academic fraternity. He and Mary Ann started dating the summer between his freshman and sophomore years at Elmhurst after she fibbed about needing a ride home from their town’s 4th of July festivities. Post graduation, he enlisted in the Army Reserves, he dutifully served for six years, and upon honorable discharge he married Mary Ann on his birthday in 1963.

Milt joined Bell Telephone immediately after they married and spent his 38-year engineering career as a dedicated leader with the them. They moved frequently with his promotions; starting in Chicago then to Springfield and numerous other locations across Illinois including Peoria and Joliet, where they adopted Chris and Ann Marie and made some of their closest and longest lasting friends. They finally settled with Southwestern Bell (now AT&T) in Little Rock, AR in the early 70’s where they’ve lived since and began enjoying his early retirement in 2001.

In his spare time, Milt tirelessly volunteered to improve the lives of others early in his life with the Jaycees and Junior Achievement. Later he was President of The Pioneers of America, the philanthropic arm of Southwestern Bell, and founded the local Lymphoma Society chapter after his Stage 4 diagnosis in 2004. He wielded his construction skills with the Over the Hill Gang building homes for Habitat for Humanity, and a variety of structures large and small for Ferncliff Camp and Wildwood Park for the Arts. Because of his generosity with his skills and time his impact and example are beyond measure.

Milt was an avid outdoorsman and loved to spend time running, boating, hiking and fishing and he spent countless hours sharing these passions with and passing them on to his children and grandchildren. His grandchildren would spend hours in a good card game with him and enjoying his wickedly dry sense of humor and stealth comedic timing that never faded. Milt was a loving and steadfast husband, father, and “PaPa” and only became more loving and good-natured as  his Parkinson’s induced dementia progressed. He will be deeply missed by his family, friends, church, neighbors, and community near and far. To know Milt was to know a truly good man in every sense. His daughter-in-law said it best, “This would be a better place if there were more Milt Foerstes in the world” and she is right.

A Celebration of Life service will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 25th at the Zion United Church of Chirst in Addieville with Rev. Bill Groennert officiating. Visitation will be held from 1:00 p.m. until service time.  A private burial will be held in the St. Paul United Church of Christ Cemetery in Nashville.  Memorial contributions may be made to the Zion United Church of Christ in Addieville, The Parkinson's Foundation or The Lymphoma Research Foundation .  Styninger Funeral Home in Nashville is in charge of arrangements.

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