Byron (Pop) Foster; Retired Electrician

Byron (Pop) Foster, a retired electrician who was active in Palmdale community activities, has died at a Palmdale hospital. He was 81.

A longtime Palmdale resident, Foster died Tuesday of cancer, said his wife, Vela Foster.

Born in Wichita Falls, Tex., Foster came to California in the early 1930s and worked as an electrician. In the mid-1950s, he went to work for Lockheed Corp. in Palmdale, where he stayed until his retirement in the early 1980s. After his retirement, he did office work for several years for Dr. S. E. Moorthy in Palmdale.

Foster was a charter member and past president of Friends of the Cultural Center in Palmdale, charter member of Friends of the Palmdale Library and past vice president of the Palmdale Lions Club. He was also a member of Palmdale Masonic Lodge No. 769, Al Malaikah Temple, Palmdale Elks Lodge No. 2027, Palmdale Civic Authority, Palmdale High School Band Boosters Club and the Antelope Valley Church of Religious Science in Lancaster. He was also a 37-year member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

In addition to his wife of 40 years, Foster is survived by his sons, Dr. Richard Foster of Concord and Byron Foster Jr., of Palmdale; daughters, Judy Crain of Santa Maria and Sandra Ulrich of Memphis, Tenn.; sisters, Dolly Armstrong of Maywood and Sybil Cowell of Fresno; nine grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren.

A funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. today at Chapel of the Valley Mortuary, 38141 6th St. East, Palmdale, which is handling the arrangements. Burial will follow at Desert Lawn Memorial Park, Palmdale.