Lionel Train Foyt Obituary (1913 - 2013)

WINTHROP - Lionel “Train” Foyt, 99, affectionately known as Choo-Choo, to his six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, died peacefully on March 13, 2013, and is once again reunited with his beloved wife, Bette. Lionel was born in 1913, grew up in Augusta, and attended Cony High School. When he was a sophomore, his father, Charles Foyt, an Army veteran, of the Spanish American War and the Philippine Insurrection, died in the Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington D.C. Because of his father’s death, Lionel dropped out of high school for two years to work in the Edward’s Mill to help support his mother, brother, and two sisters. His mother, Minnie, made Lionel promise he would return to high school and he did. Lionel returned to school two years later as a junior and played on the 1932 Cony Football Team, which was the last Cony Football Team to win a State Championship; and he was one of the last or the very last survivor of that team. In his senior year in 1933, Lionel was the captain and the 6’3” center of the very successful Cony Basketball Team. After graduation and in the midst of the Great American Depression, Lionel, like many other young men, joined the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp); and he served in the Patten, Maine area, and helped to build the road to Mattagamon Lake and into Baxter State Park. In 1940, with war eminent, Lionel enlisted in the United States Army. After the attack on Pearl Harbor and before shipping out, Lionel married his sweetheart, Bette Mosley Webb. During W.W. II, Lionel served in the South Pacific, on the Japanese Island of Okinawa, where he attained the rank of Master Sergeant. After the war, Lionel continued his patriotism, by joining and serving in the Maine Army National Guard for thirty-three years; and he periodically left his family with the Guard to help fight Maine floods, forest fires, and hurricanes and was often put on alert for National emergencies like the Berlin Air Lift and the Cuban Missile Crisis. After WWII, Lionel and Bette settled in Winthrop and raised their family on High Street. Lionel worked for thirty-three years for the State Government and then the Federal Government at Camp Keys in Augusta. He was the military warehouse supervisor; and later, he was the military transportation officer for the State of Maine. Lionel and Bette, both loved the outdoors, were constantly on the go, and would often pack their young family of three children and their Springer Spaniel, named Cocoa, into the family’s open, green, Willis jeep and head off for lakeside picnics, Little League games, mountain climbing trips, coastal beach trips, fishing trips, and camping trips. Lionel enjoyed many activities with his family: trapshooting, playing cribbage, trolling for salmon, staying at Cupsuptic Campground in Oquossoc, ice fishing at Nugent’s Allagash Camps on Chamberlain Lake, and staying at the family camp on East Grand Lake. He also enjoyed visiting with his special friends, Harry and Pauline Chase, at Harpo’s Emporium. In addition, if you have ever heard the advertisement, “You should have bought it, when you saw it, at Mardens”; well, Lionel certainly did…just that! Marden’s was his favorite store, he had fun shopping there, and most of his purchases are still adorned with the red, Marden’s price tags. But most of all, for five decades, Lionel’s favorite activity was watching the Winthrop High School Boys’ and Girls’ Basketball Teams and the Winthrop Football Teams. Lionel was not only a dedicated fan but he was also friends with all the Winthrop players, coaches, and athletic directors; and wherever he went, all of these people would always affectionately greet him with a, “Hello Train!” Lionel belonged to the National Rifle Association, the State and National Trapshooting Association, the Sports Unlimited Club of Wayne Maine, the Masons, the Military Retirees Association, and he was a lifetime member and also the oldest member of Post 40 Alfred W. Maxwell American Legion. Lionel is survived by his son, Scott Foyt and wife, Cathy Foyt; son, Jon Foyt; nephew, Clyde Beaton; niece, Jackie Foyt Schubach; son-in-law, James Gardiner; grandchildren: Ethan Foyt and wife, Julie Foyt; Tabby Soule and husband Adam Soule; Adam Foyt and partner, Alisha Hartung; Luke Gardner; Micah Gardner and partner, Athena Benner; and Kyle Foyt; and great grandchildren: Daylin Soule; Tala Soule; June Foyt; Rory Foyt; and Zane Foyt. Lionel was predeceased by his wife Bette; daughter, Gretchen: sister, Lillian Daniels; sister, Irene Beaton; brother, Willard Foyt; and nephews, Craig and Danny Daniels. At Lionel’s request there will be no funeral and no visiting hours. There will be a family ceremony later this spring at the Maine Veterans Memorial Cemetery. The Foyt family would like to thank the staff at the Augusta Maine Veteran’s Home, (especially Company B), for the excellent, professional, loving care Train received during his brief stay there. The family would also like to thank Leon Roberts and Steve Reed of the Knowlton, Hewins, and Roberts Funeral Home for their heartfelt assistance.