People

: Anna Gertrude (Barker) Foster; She was born to Clarence N. Barker and Frances May Carol (Crowell) Barker in Paola, Kansas. Her father was a farmer. Her mother was a homemaker. The 1900 US Census shows Anna living wither her father, who is listed as a widower, at the age of fifteen. She taught school for five years in Kansas and then was hired by Dr. A.R. Craig to teach school in Mesa in 1908. She was lured to the area by an increase in pay. Because paper money was scarce, she was paid in $20 gold pieces. She taught seventh, eighth and ninth grades at the Mesa School in Mesa School District 25. She lived in a home with the Craigs in the town of Mesa. She married Willard Charles Foster in Louisburg, Kansas on December 28, 1910. He was a farmer and a carpenter. They had several children and grandchildren. She lived in the town of Mesa from 1908 until 1968. She moved to Grand Junction at the age of 79.