Alise Foster

This page is dedicated to the memory of Alise Mooers Foster

I only met my great aunt Alise Mooers Foster once. After returning from working in Alaska in 1975, I took a road trip stopping to see friends and sites and ending up in Alhambra, CA, where Alise had lived since she left Minnesota in the 50's. Alise was my dad's father's sister. My mother and father kept in contact with Alise over the years, and so I thought I would say hello. I wasn't one to plan ahead, I just showed up at her door and knocked. I heard her say "who's there?" I answered, "Howard Mooers." Then it dawned on me that I had been told that her favorite nephew was my dad's brother Howard, who was killed in WWII. But I guess she figured it out. I was welcomed with open arms. Alise must have been about 80 at that time, always a heavy woman. We had no trouble having meaningful conversations, catching up on life and family.

She said "you must stay the night," and, being the planner that I was, had no place else to stay. We went to grocery store to get a few things as Alise wanted to make dinner. I don't recall what she cooked, but that was the first time that had ever eaten an artichoke; quite a treat. Alise did not have a spare room so I slept on an S-shaped Chaise lounge. Being 21 what difference did it make to me. During the night she came in to check on me and added a second blanket, I got the feeling that Alise missed having family nearby.

The next day I left and never saw or spoke with Alise again. My mother and father went to visit Alise in 1981, I guess that she had told them that she wanted to pass on family heirlooms that had been in her possession for years. They drove their 1980 Volkswagen Rabbit diesel, and when they returned the shocks were bottomed out from the load. Alise was an avid painter and poet, and she was the keeper of the family history. She passed on my great-great grandfather's 3-wick kerosine desk lamp from the 1860s, countless bowls, cups, dishes that belonged to her parents and grandparents, and her artwork. 

As I said, I only met Alise once, but my older brother by 11 years, Jack Johnson, knew her far better.

by Howard Mooers

Alise stayed with us off and on from about 1952-54.  She was quite a bag of contradictions.  Imperious, prone to anger and imagined slights, openly disdainful of people with whom she disagreed.  She was a nurse in Brainerd, but I don't think I would have wanted to be her patient in the hospital.  Was a Red Cross nurse during World War II.   A devout Catholic.  Musical.  Bookish.  Artistic (an excellent oil painter, mostly landscapes).  Studied in Paris and spoke French.  Saw herself as the Mooers family historian, and in fact was responsible for a lot of the history that got passed down about the family, but was ashamed of her Indian blood.  Loved the outdoors and all things "natural."  Something of a fitness nut--she swam in Serpent Lake nearly every day when she stayed with us in the summer, regardless of the weather, but not in Agate Lake because our resort beach was "too public."  Liked sentimental poetry and soppy novels.  Disowned her own young children after her divorce, but later had a romantic (I'm guessing it was platonic only) interlude with "George," whom she pines for in several of her poems.  Disliked kids, including me, but warmed up to me and my wife when I got older.

by Jack Johnson

Alise's Cabin - I don't know where Alise's cabin was located, but it was somewhere near Brainerd. I came across these photos in December of 2024 in a box that my Mother, Elsie, had set aside. The platform rocker is now in my cabin on Agate Lake. I have the China bowl (by the lamp) and the three-wick porcelain kerosene desk lamp are in my home in Duluth.