Vivian V Hale

Born in Harlem Hospital on August 22, 1918, to Thaddeus Bryan and Emma Rasmussen Bryan, Vivian remained the consummate New Yorker. In retirement after returning to Englewood, NJ, she designated one day a week to take the bus into Manhattan and simply enjoy the unique sights and sounds of New York. Reared by her aunt and uncle, Anna and Benjamin Barnes, in Englewood, Vivian graduated from Dwight Morrow High School and through her own skills and hard work, put herself through Freedman’s Nursing School at Howard University in Washington, D.C. She later received additional training in nursing at Catholic University and the University of Pennsylvania. Vivian married DeWitt Talmadge Foster soon after graduation. From the union, DeWitt (Tim) was born. She considered being a mother her greatest accomplishment, raising Tim to be an incredible person. Most of Tim’s childhood was spent in Camden where Vivian worked as public health nurse. She was active in the community, a devout choir member of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church and member of Jack and Jill, Inc. In 1966, she married Jack Hale and returned to Englewood where she worked as geriatric nurse at Inglemoor Nursing Home until retirement. She was widowed in 1975. Vivian enjoyed traveling, taking several cruises and joining friends on bus trips across the country. She especially enjoyed traveling to the U.S. Virgin Islands where her parents were born. She read voraciously and preferred radio to television. She was a night owl and enjoyed staying up late. We had all hoped that she would live to see her first great-grandchild due in October. In her last telephone conversation with Karith just two weeks ago she talked quite lucidly about the baby. While she will not see her with her physical eyes, we are confident that the two of them are communicating in a realm denied to the rest of us at the moment. A memorial service will be held at Christ Church Plano on July 18. Later this year, we will lay her ashes to rest in her beloved Englewood, NJ, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, her home parish. We are grateful for all the ladies— Winifred, Venice, Chloe, Denise, Dawn, Masumi, Goya, Cynthia, Jie, Justine and Arletha — who were so diligent, faithful and competent in their care of her over this time. We were truly fortunate. She is survived by her son DeWitt T. (Tim) Foster, his wife Carol, of Plano, TX, a granddaughter Karith Foster Russell (Craig) of California and New York, and grandson DeWitt T. Foster III of San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, as well as a host of cousins in New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands.