* Robert E. Foulsham; Bell Aircraft Designer

Robert E. Foulsham, a former employee of Bell Aircraft’s experimental aircraft division, died Friday from complications due to Parkinson’s disease. He was 82.

Foulsham was born Nov. 3, 1914, in Lee, Mass. He was raised in Pennsylvania, and attended Syracuse University in New York. In 1939, he moved to Buffalo, N.Y., where he worked for Bell Aircraft. He was a member of the team that designed and built the X-1, the first aircraft to break the sound barrier.

In 1943, Foulsham moved to Texas, where he worked for American Airlines, National Cash Register, Acme Fast Freight, and Harding Orr and McDaniel Funeral Home. He moved to Ventura in 1993.

Foulsham is survived by his wife, Mary Lou, of Ventura; daughter Mary Leu Pappas, of Ventura; son George Trend Foulsham of Lakewood, and two granddaughters.

Services will be held at 2 p.m. Sunday at All Saints Episcopal Church in Oxnard, with the Rev. Anthony Guillen officiating.

Donations may be sent to the National Parkinson Foundation, 15480 Ventura Blvd., Suite 215, Encino 91436, or the Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurse Assn. Hospice Program, 1996 Eastman Ave., Suite 101, Ventura 92002.

Arrangements are under the care of Ted Mayr Funeral Home in Ventura.