Teaching Others - Gretta Minter Foster

Miss Gretta I. Minter was born on 1 November 1896 in Pine Forest, Texas to Dr. Guy Z. Minter - Margie M. Penn. She attended schools in Pine Forest and later, Denton High School where she graduated in 1916. Following her graduation, she began her college days at the College of Industrial Arts [today, Texas Woman's University] in Denton. Gretta Minter was a member of the Public School Music Club while in college and she lived at home with her mother and siblings in Denton. She graduated from C.I.A. in 1920 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Music.

Miss Gretta Minter began her teaching career in the fall of 1920 at Pine Forest, Texas. She would teach in Pine Forest from the fall of 1920 to the spring of 1925. By the fall of 1925, she was teaching the 3rd grade in Graham, Texas. She lived in the Teacher's Dormitory and paid $5 a month for food. She was making $92.80 a month or $1580 in money in 2022. In 1926, her sister, Grace Minter moved to Graham to begin teaching school as well.

Each summer, Gretta and Grace would return to Hopkins County to live with their mother during the break. In 1930, Gretta continued teaching the 3rd grade in Graham and created the Graham Choral groups. The popular groups of the day were the Girls' Glee Club, the Older Boys' Glee Club, and the Junior Boys' Glee Club. Miss Gretta Minter was not a member of the high school faculty but dedicated her extra time working with these young people. She was making $92.34 per month which included her room and board.

In the spring of 1932, at the close of the school term, Miss Gretta Minter received a letter from the school board informing her that they believed she had done great work for the school since she began in 1925. There were not enough students in the 3rd grade for the fall of 1932 and they regretted telling her that they were discontinuing her position. In the Fall of 1932, Miss Gretta Minter was hired to be a school teacher in the East Ward School, which is Graham's Jr. and Sr. High. She continued to teach school in Graham. She is making $89.10 a month which included her room and board.

The spring semester of 1933 would be the last time Miss Gretta Minter would teach in Graham.

On 21 December 1933, Miss Grace Minter married Jacob C. Foster in Jacksboro, Texas. Mr. Foster was a preacher for the Church of Christ. He attended school at Cooper and Commerce Texas. Then he graduated from George Robertson Christian College [today known as Freed-Hardeman University] in Henderson, Tennessee. Jacob Foster began preaching the gospel in 1902 and gave his entire life as an evangelist. At their marriage, he was 52 and she was 37. By 1935, the couple was living in Palestine, Texas. The life of an evangelist meant the couple would move every two to three years. In 1939, the couple was living in Lamesa, where Miss Grace Minter would often visit. Jacob and Gretta moved to Frederick, Oklahoma where they continued to minister to Christians. They were living there in 1944 when Mrs. J.C. Foster wrote a letter to Mrs. Blanche Perry speaking about baptistery paintings in church buildings. Mrs. Gretta Foster had a major operation in January of 1937 in Dallas which she may not have fully recovered. She and her husband moved to Pine Forest to live with her mother.

Mrs. Gretta Foster passed away on 30 November 1949 in Sulphur Springs, Texas. She is buried in Pine Forest cemetery.