Nancy Brown Foster (Duke)

Nancy Brown Foster – recently, Nancy Foster Duke – died on June 5, 2024, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Born on July 24, 1933, Nan was the elder of two children of J. Donald Brown, Sr. and Frances Harper Brown of Anderson, South Carolina.

Attending public schools in Anderson, Nan graduated from Girls’ High in that city and later from Converse College of Spartanburg where she earned her degree in Education. During college, Nan met William Edwin Foster – Ed – whom she married in 1955 shortly after graduation, and the two of them settled down in Spartanburg where Nan lived, essentially, for the rest of her long and fruitful life. Nan and Ed raised three children together: William Edwin Foster, Jr. (Bill), John Donnald Foster (Jay), and Frances Harper Foster (later, Frances Bond). A very active couple within the community, Nan and Ed were well known in many social circles and civic organizations, including the First Baptist Church of Spartanburg, and following Ed’s untimely death in 1992, First Presbyterian Church of Spartanburg.

For roughly 30 years, Nan was employed at the SC School for the Deaf and Blind, or Cedar Springs, as a teacher of multi-handicapped children, a role in which she excelled and found great meaning. During her long life, Nan generously gave her time to many civic organizations and causes, serving in the Junior League of Spartanburg for much of her adult life, including as president. In that connection, she helped to establish the Charles Lea Center of Spartanburg and the Girls Home of Spartanburg (today the Hope Center for Children). Additionally, Nan was faithful and active in many garden clubs, bridge clubs, supper clubs, and the like. In short, Nan loved people. She loved to serve people and to enjoy the people with whom she worked and lived. Known for her magnanimous hospitality and winning spirit, Nan left an indelible mark of friendship and care on virtually everyone she met.

Late in life, Nan married Robert W. Duke, or Bobby, of Kingstree, SC, and the two of them enjoyed nearly 15 years of elderhood companionship, sharing a mutual love of social engagement and hospitality with many friends in both the low country and upstate South Carolina.

In addition to her late husband, Ed and her parents, Nan was preceded in death by her brother, Donald Brown, Jr. of Anderson. In addition to her children and step-children – Bill (Beth), Jay (Alice), and Frances (Scot) - and her husband, Bobby, Nan is survived by her late brother’s wife, Martha Sue Brown of Anderson, and by her late husband’s sister, Jeanne Foster Clark and her husband, Shelby Clark of Spartanburg. Nan is also survived by seven grandchildren – Nick Dodson (Anisa) of Brighton, MI; Steven Bond (Mary) of Spartanburg; Jack Foster (Amanda) of Boston, MA; Drew Bond (Isabella) of Greenville, SC; Will Foster of New York City; Warren Bond of Greer, SC; and Hannah Foster of Chicago, IL – as well as by three great-grandchildren: Liam Dodson, Owen Dodson, and Audrey Dodson, all of Brighton, MI., and a great-grandson, Griffin Bond of Spartanburg, SC.

The family wants to acknowledge and thank the care providers who accompanied her during her last years of illness, decline, and death, including those with Comfort Keepers, Eden Terrace, and Spartanburg Regional Health System and Hospice Home. Special thanks and appreciation is here given to her main in-home care specialist with Comfort Keepers, Kandi Nash.

A memorial service is planned for 3:00 PM Sunday, June 9, at the First Presbyterian Church of Spartanburg, with a private family graveside service on Monday June 10.

Memorial Donations may be sent to Hope Center for Children of Spartanburg: www.hopecfc.org.

May Nan sleep with the angels and may God bless her memory forever.