Foster-Smith family.

William Bennett Foster was born in Omaha, Nebraska on August 26, 1897 to William Bray Foster and Eleanor (Nellie) LeFevre Foster. He had one sister, Eleanor Trace Foster, who was born on September 20, 1891. Bennett, as he was known, was reared by various family members after his father died when he was three years old. Growing up, he attended several schools including St. John's Military Academy in Delafield, Wisconsin. Later, he moved to Las Cruces, New Mexico and lived with his uncle Luther Foster, who was a president and faculty member of New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts (now New Mexico State University). Bennett attended New Mexico College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts from 1916 until January 1918, when he joined the Navy.

Foster was discharged from the Navy in August 1919. He returned to Las Cruces and started college again on October 1, 1919. He left college a second time and moved to Roy, New Mexico in 1920. He worked for the State of New Mexico Co-operative Extension Work in Agriculture and Home Economics in Roy and was active in the Wheat Belt Fair Association, eventually being elected secretary. However, he decided to return to college in Las Cruces in fall 1920, graduated in June 1921, and then moved to Raton, New Mexico where he taught high school for many years.

After a long courtship, Bennett married Edna Aileen Smith in Las Cruces on August 23, 1922. Both the Foster and Smith families were early settlers in the Mesilla Valley of southern New Mexico in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Aileen's family originally homesteaded in Vaughn, New Mexico in 1908 and later moved to Las Cruces. Her father, George Washington Russell Smith was a traveling doctor in the area for many years.

After Bennett and Aileen's marriage, Bennett returned to Raton and continued teaching. Aileen remained in Las Cruces to finish college, and gave birth to their first son, William Bennett, Jr. on June 21, 1923. They had another son, Russell Nesbit, on September 7, 1925 in Mesilla, New Mexico. Bennett eventually moved to Springer, New Mexico and continued teaching. Aileen joined him there with their two sons. Eleanor Patricia, their third child, was born in Springer on December 10, 1929. Besides teaching, Bennett wrote and published many books and short stories about the Old West.

Bennett moved his family to Albuquerque on July 7, 1941, where he continued teaching and where Aileen began to teach music. At the start of World War II, their two sons, William and Russell, joined the Army Air Force and Bennett joined the army in 1943. He attained the rank of Captain in 1945 and was stationed in India for some time. He was discharged in May, 1946 and returned to Albuquerque where he continued teaching until he retired. He died in Albuquerque on September 29, 1969.

Aileen continued living in Albuquerque after his death and died on November 11, 1986. Trace Foster, Bennett's sister, lived in Mesilla, N.M. for several years and then moved to Chicago, Illinois, where she taught school until retiring. She remained unmarried and died in Chicago on November 2, 1972.

From the description of Foster-Smith family papers, 1960-2003 (New Mexico State University). WorldCat record id: 300317721