For 17 years, the Greenwood resident has shown up at Westwood Elementary, ready to learn about a young child who might need some help with reading or numbers or just need a friend.
Tom Foster, a World War II veteran, is turning 95 in one week. He’s tutored at Westwood since 2003, helping students from kindergarten through third grade learn the basics of math and literacy, from counting to memorizing the alphabet to learning to read. He typically only tutors one student each year, and because of that establishes a close connection to them, he said.
“It’s good for me, I get a kick out of the kids. I’m a big kid myself. Kids seem to take to me a little and I seem to have a good rapport with the teachers and staff at Westwood,” Foster said.
“I usually get along well with Westwood kids and most of them have gone on to high school. By the time I was seeing kids from years before they would come up and hug me and say ‘hi’ and talk to me.”
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Foster originally got involved with tutoring after hearing about an English Language Learners program offered through the Johnson County Public Library. After the library ran out of students who needed tutoring, Foster learned about the Oasis tutoring program, which paired him with students at Westwood, where he’s been assisting children ever since, he said.
“More or less I turned out to be not just a tutor but a friend; more or less a big brother,” Foster said. “You establish a rapport with a kid, whatever you can do to help the kid or address what the teacher is having problems with.”
The key to helping students succeed when they are struggling in class is to take them to an area such as the library that might be less stressful than a classroom. Establishing a bond of trust with students helps them open up and can make learning easier, he said.
“I find it a very worthwhile thing for me to be able to do,” Foster said. “I find it just very helpful to have time to be able to communicate with kids on a regular basis. If the whole world doesn’t implode, they’ll be the ones running stuff down the road. Hopefully, I can influence them a little bit.”
During World War II, he trained at what was known as Camp Pickett in Virginia and what was known as Camp Wolters in Texas. He made his way to Indianapolis as a medical supply non-commissioned officer at Fort Harrison. He did not serve overseas, because a program to teach soldiers Japanese before they went across the Pacific never got off the ground, he said.
After the war, he worked for Decca Records assembling albums before they were shipped to distributors. In 1951, he changed careers, working for Mayflower Transit, a moving company founded in Indianapolis. He eventually became the vice president of the company before retiring in 1986.
“In retirement I stayed busy with other things, I did work around the house,” Foster said. “I found out I can’t handle that kind of stuff anymore; I’m just not up to it physically.”
Foster has had a lifelong love of reading. Even before he could read, he would look at comic strips and try to imagine what the characters were saying. By the time he hit first grade, he didn’t have to guess anymore. Now, he tries to pass along that passion for reading and learning to his students. Sometimes, he does that in unconventional ways, like playing tic-tac-toe, he said.
“They can watch the moves I make in order to guard against the next move. If they move haphazardly they won’t win,” Foster said.
“It makes them more attentive to what’s happening and teaches them to be observant.”
