Brian Knell Foster'
1957 - 2020
The world has lost a shining light, a joyful and happy soul, and a sparkly contagious laugh. Brian, a sweetheart, father, grandpa, brother, second dad, and uncle passed away peacefully after a short but brave battle with lymphoma on February 19, 2020. He was born April 12, 1957 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Alice and Charles Foster. He graduated from Skyline High School where he was a track star and actually still holds the record for the 100 yard dash. He served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the England Bristol Mission. He married the girl of his dreams, Deanne White, on March 19, 1981, in the Salt Lake LDS Temple. He received his bachelor's degree in business management from Westminster College in Salt Lake City. He worked for Dun & Bradstreet for more than 30 years and loved all the people he had the privilege of working with throughout his career. Music was a huge part of his life. He was very musically talented and played bass with many bands over the years including Wind River and Voyce. For the past 40+ years he played bass with his brother Ken Foster and his great friend, Bob MacArt, in the Ken Foster Trio. Together they provided music for thousands of special events, including weddings, galas, dances, corporate parties, church events, as well as Ballroom Dance night at the Murray Arts Center. His favorite was being the catalyst to get people dancing. With all of that, he would still say his greatest accomplishments were picking the perfect girl to marry, raising the best kids, and being the all-time best grandpa ever. His passion was creating a life full of love, joy and fun. From the time he was a child, he loved riding horses and snowmobiling at the family's cabin in Oakley, swimming at the family pool in Holladay, and waterskiing at Lake Powell. He also loved watching and traveling with his children's performing groups all over the world, and traveling to exotic places with his sweetheart. He had hundreds of best friends and never passed up an opportunity to enjoy lunch at Woody's, dinner out, a family party, a road trip, or anything that would be considered fun. He served his Savior through many service callings at church and especially loved working with youth groups. There wasn't a sad heart he couldn't cheer up. He was generous with his time, his smile, his laugh, his encouragement, and his cheery spirit. He was bigger than life and has left a large emptiness that if we all try hard to be more like him, together we can fill it back up. One of his cousins, Don Parker, recently said "Brian had a talent for making you feel like you were his favorite person. That quality is something that Christ has, and those that can emulate that show us a glimpse of what it will be like to meet our Savior."
He is preceded in death by his parents Alice and Charles Foster, his brother Mike Foster (Kim), his grandson Houston Nielsen and his niece, Lisa Calderwood. He is survived by his forever sweetheart, Deanne, his children Preston Foster (Melissa), and April Nielsen (Nate), his seven grandchildren, sister Chris Granere, brother Ken Foster (Sue), and a host of "foster" siblings, nieces and nephews, and great nieces and nephews who all loved him with that great kind of love.
Funeral services will be held Saturday, February 29, 2020 at 11:00AM at the Union Ft. Stake Center, 7155 S 540 E, Midvale, Utah. Friends and family may call Saturday, Feb 29 from 10:00-10:45am at the same location, and Friday, Feb 28 from 6:00-8:00pm at Larkin Sunset Gardens, 1950 E. Dimple Dell Rd. (10600 S), Sandy, Utah.