The Lee MacLellan Family Story
GREAT AND GREAT-GREAT CHILDREN through John Foster
The generational levels in the title, like all the other relationships in the web site, use Lee and Irma MacLellan as the base. Their grandchild was John Foster, and he had two children; Matthew and Mary Catherine, who then became Lee and Irma's great grandchildren.
But it doesn't stop there, as both Matthew and Mary Catherine had children, and they became Lee and Irma's great great grandchildren.
Matthew John Foster - GREAT GRANDSON
Matthew "Matt" Foster (1973 - ) is the oldest great grandchild in the MacLellan Family.
Heather Parker-Foster, Rome Foster, and Matt Foster at Christmas 2019
Rome Lee Foster is the GREAT GRANDSON of Lee and Irma MacLellan
He is the first Foster born outside South Carolina; he was born in Newport News VA when his father was still in the Navy.
Matthew attended Mars Hill College, where he met his future wife Heather Parker. It would be several years before they married in 1996. She adopted a dual last name: Heather Parker-Foster.
Matt has had a variety of jobs. He joined a salmon fishing crew in Alaska shortly after his mother died. After that he taught advanced English in high school for 13 years in Little Rock Arkansas. Burnt out from the demands of teaching, he took time off to start a brewery from scratch that has endured and is profitable. Recently he returned to teaching, as his owner responsibilities at the brewery have taken less of his time.
John Foster holding his grandson Rome in 2011
Rome Foster's first tennis match, which he won 6-0
Mary Catherine Foster - GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER
Mary Catherine Foster (1978 -), perhaps influenced by her mother's early death from cancer, has dedicated her professional career to hospital chaplaincy.
Mary Catherine initially worked for just one hospital. She has progressively increased her responsibilities, rising to a management level.
Mary Catherine met her future husband, Kyle Vernon Cole (1960 - ) while they were both studying at Emery University in Atlanta. She was studying for her Masters of Divinity degree, and he was in charge of the Inner City Teen Pregnancy Prevention initiative.
Kyle's background is in journalism. He received his bachelors and masters degrees from North Texas University, and worked as an editor of the Galveston Daily News before he left for the University of Missouri, where he earned his Ph.D. in Journalism.
Mary Catherine and Kyle were married in 2004 in Camden SC. They lived in Atlanta for 9-10 years before moving to Bethlehem PA, home of her great grandparents Lee and Irma MacLellan.
Mary Catherine and family recently moved to Black Mountain, NC, part of the Ashville greater metropolitan area. There they are living in a mountain cottage that originally belonged to her grandparents (Bill and Priscilla Foster). John inherited the cottage when his parents died. Recently John sold it to Mary Catherine, who is expanding and modernizing it to be their permanent home.
Mary Catherine Cole, Matthew Cole, and Kyle Cole summer 2020
Matthew Cole in mountain stream
Matthew Cole in the mountains of his new home near Ashville, NC. The sign reads "First day of 4th grade" "Black Mountain Elementary" "MS. Feagel" "(from home)"
