Louisiana’s 53rd governor, Mike Foster, is being laid to rest today in his hometown of Franklin. Foster was at the helm of the state for two terms from 1996 through 2004. Former Governor Bobby Jindal served in the Foster administration and remembers Foster as a down to earth guy.
“He never lost that country boy feeling to him. He grew up obviously in St. Mary Parish, spent much of his life in Franklin, and never forgot where he came from,” said Jindal.
90-year-old Foster died Sunday.
Jindal says Foster was early to bed, early to rise. If you tried to call him at the office of the Governor’s mansion too late in the afternoon, you could expect a wake-up call the next day.
“The troopers refused to wake him up. They’d ask you, ‘Did somebody die?’ and if you said no, they wouldn’t wake him up and then early the next morning, he would get up at the crack of dawn, he would wake you up with a phone call. He wouldn’t tell you his title, he wouldn’t say Mike Foster. He would say, ‘This is Mike,'” said Jindal.
Jindal says he recently met with Foster when it became clear that he was nearing the end of his life.
“His intellect was sharp. He certainly had lost some weight and was a bit smaller. He had always been dieting as Governor. But he had lost some weight, he was in a good mood, good spirits. He even teased me. He was joking with me and said ‘This is an awful way to lose weight,'” said Jindal.
Private services will be held at his home, Oaklawn Manor, at 11 a.m. followed by a public graveside service at 12:30 p.m. at Franklin Cemetery, complete with a military send-off.
Comments