Margaret Lang Boice Foster

Margaret Lang Boice Foster, 77, passed away on March 3, 2026, at her home in Littleton, Colorado, surrounded by her husband and children. She died peacefully from complications related to recurrent breast cancer.

Margaret’s life was full of kindness, love and fun right up until her passing. Only a week prior, she had enjoyed a boisterous family reunion full of music, games, home movies, family portraits and love. It served as a final celebration of her incredible life. She fully participated in the festivities, expressing deep love and gratitude, and receiving the same in return. Ever the optimist, she was able to tell her grandchildren that her faith was strong and that she wasn’t afraid to die. She passed quickly and painlessly a week later. Having said her goodbyes, it seemed like she felt it was time for her to go.

Margaret was born on March 24, 1948, in Phoenix, Arizona to Howard and Caroline Boice. She is survived by her husband Mickey Foster; her siblings Howie, Carson, and Jim; her children Matt, Mark, Ty, Jeff, Adam, Drew and Megan; and her twenty-three grandchildren.

Margaret, known as Grandma Maggie to her grandchildren, lived a humble yet extraordinary life. She was a creative and joyful child, known for her imagination, her kindness and her love of pets. She spent her summers playing in the pines and climbing on the boulders around Iron Springs, Arizona, every night watching from her family’s cabin as the sunsets faded into starlit nights.

At West Phoenix High School, she was involved in student government, National Honor Society, cheerleading, and choir, graduating in 1966. She enrolled at the University of Arizona in Tucson, where she remained involved in student government, many service organizations, and her sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta. She graduated cum laude in 1970 with a degree in Elementary Education. She fell in love with Arizona basketball star Mickey Foster, and they married in Phoenix, Arizona on March 21, 1970.

Margaret had been raised an Episcopalian, and while in college she was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This new faith, along with her love of family, would become the driving force of her life.

She and Mickey lived in Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Omaha, and Jefferson City, Missouri, before moving to Littleton, Colorado in 1989, where she would live the remainder of her life at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. Along the way, Margaret gave birth to six boys. It was a full basketball team (with a sub!) whom she parented with unwavering love and kindness. Then a miracle occurred: in 1992, at the age of 44, Margaret gave birth to her only surviving daughter, Megan.

One of the great tragedies of Margaret’s life had struck in 1976 when her first daughter, Kelly, died of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) at the age of three months. One of Margaret’s greatest desires was to have Kelly’s casket eventually moved to be near her own grave. This was accomplished just last month, when Margaret, facing her own terminal cancer, was able to participate in a “re-burial” of Kelly at Littleton Cemetery, surrounded by her surviving family.

Margaret’s life in Colorado was always busy and meaningful as she parented her six boys and baby daughter. Feeding this small army, keeping them in shoes and clothes and out of trouble, helping them achieve success in school, sports, church, and life, imparting to them her kindness, optimism and goodness: this parenting is what Margaret felt was the most important and rewarding work of her life, and she excelled at it. Our best calculations estimate that she cooked over ten thousand family dinners, attended over seven hundred basketball games, and laughed along with approximately one bazillion lame jokes and crazy pranks.

As her nest began to empty, she returned to her work in education, teaching preschool out of her home, pioneering a gifted and talented program for Shaffer Elementary, and eventually becoming a beloved kindergarten teacher at Ute Meadows Elementary.

Margaret’s later years were filled with family, travel, grandchildren and love. She visited Brazil, Japan, Finland, Russia, and took a cruise down the Danube River. She served with Mickey as a church missionary in the California Irvine mission. She continued to love basketball, especially cheering on her Arizona Wildcats and Denver Nuggets.

In 2016, her family purchased their own cabin in Iron Springs, henceforth to be known as the Margaret Foster cabin, where for a decade Grandma Maggie welcomed her ever-expanding roster of grandchildren with games, dinners, desserts, and hugs. Her final summers there were spent much like her first, wandering through the whispering pine trees and along the dusty back roads of camp, surrounded by family, laughter, and love. Every night, she enjoyed nothing more than sitting on the spacious back deck of the cabin, surrounded by her family, watching as the spectacular Arizona sunsets faded softly into brilliant starlit nights.

Margaret’s funeral service will be held on Saturday, March 28th, 2026 at 10 am at the LDS chapel at 6705 S Webster St, Littleton, CO 80128. For those unable to attend in person, the service will be streamed live, by using this link: https://zoom.us/j/92505206752?pwd=Luu80j95Quaugx60DKeYbKBsTWOroj. Meeting ID: 925 0520 6752 Passcode: 283461

There will be a visitation, with a closed casket, at the Church where family will be greeting friends prior to the service from 9-9:45am.

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the SIDS Research Guild at www.givetostopsids.org.

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