Grace Maxine (Macky) Foster Queen of Fayetteville, Arkansas went to be with Jesus on  November the 12th, 2023 at 3:10 a.m. She departed this life surrounded by family, ushering her on her way to her long-awaited heavenly reunion with Jesus and dear ones previously passed.

Macky was a follower of Jesus, wife, mother, friend, counselor and confidant, artist, joker, ASL interpreter, voracious reader, grandmother, great-grandmother, and soon to be great-great-grandmother.  She was born on May 20th 1935 in a house on the Green Homestead in Webster County Missouri to Homer Estes Peck and Jessie Pauline Green Peck.  She grew up in the area as a motivated, independent, caregiving kid, persevering through many difficult life challenges, preparing her and her two younger sisters, Nadine and Roberta (Bobbi) for things to come.

When she was 12 and not long after the death of her mother the three girls went to live at the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home, in Bridgeton, Missouri, outside of St. Louis. She and her sisters were adopted into her Cabool Missouri family in May of 1950 by Everett McVeigh Whetstine and Margaret Elizabeth Unger Whetstine.  She graduated from Cabool High School and married George Carroll Foster on December the 22nd 1953 in Cabool Missouri.

Macky and Carroll rented their first home in West Plains, Missouri, where they were living when their first son was born. Following Kim’s birth, Macky and Carroll moved to Davenport, Iowa for a short time before returning to the Missouri Ozarks to live in Springfield, where they had their second son, Barry, before eventually moving back to Cabool a few years later, where their third son Lance was born. In Cabool, they were energetic members of the community and the First Baptist Church where Macky would work as part-time secretary and develop her puppet ministry. She developed an interest in the deaf community and took lessons in American Sign Language, eventually becoming an interpreter both at church and a local College as well as teaching to interested people in the community. Macky served this community for many years also working in the school as an aide and eventually as a school secretary. She had always enjoyed art and began painting more with oil, acrylic and watercolor. Macky and Carroll raised their three boys in the community, mothering and advocating for them and her other “Foster” sons.

Following Carroll’s retirement from the Missouri Highway Department, Macky and Carroll moved back to Springfield in 1998 where they joined the Southgate Baptist Church, developing a community of friends and family.  After Carroll had a massive stroke in December of 2004, Macky insisted she could look after him in their home. She became his caretaker day and night for the next 3 years, showing superhuman qualities and amazing stamina. When the inevitable occurred and Carroll finally had to be moved to a nursing home, Macky continued to look after him for the next seven years, making nearly daily treks to the veterans home in Mount Vernon until his death in 2014. With Carroll’s significant stroke-related cognitive and communication impairments, this was a long and extremely difficult period for Macky. Even with all her support, this was a lonely time. Yet, it was during this time that she became the ringleader for the heroic group of women known simply as “The Bus Ladies”, the group of women who would visit their husbands regularly in the Veteran’s Home supporting each other, looking after each other’s needs, and keeping each other accountable.

As 2014 progressed, Macky grew closer to a friend from her high school days. James Queen had ongoing contact with Macky and Carroll; seeing them at the high school reunions – which they always made a point of attending. Jim’s wife had passed away a few years earlier and over the next few months Macky and Jim developed a close relationship. They married at the end of September, 2014, initially living in Springfield, Missouri and then in Cold Springs, Texas, before settling in Fayetteville, Arkansas to be near Macky’s oldest and youngest sons and Jim’s daughter. When they moved to Fayetteville, Macky and Jim joined the Shiloh Community Church near their new home.

Macky was known for her listening ear and open heart, her kindness and gift of grace to others, her quickness to joke and tease and laugh at herself, all the gifts that God, her trials and triumphs had given her.

Listed below are the people she most enjoyed sharing her life and time with every chance she was given.

Macky was preceded in death by her first husband, Carroll, her parents, her younger sister Nadine Whetstine Hyde, and her grandson Nathan Foster.

She is survived by her husband James Queen; three married sons – Kim and Laurie Foster of Fayetteville, Arkansas, Barry and Patty Foster of Cedar Grove, North Carolina, and Dr Lance and Kelly Foster of Fayetteville, Arkansas, her stepdaughter Jamie Michele Queen of Farmington, Arkansas, stepson Timothy Hugh Queen of Lake Charles, Louisiana and Foster-son Drs. Thom and Sarah Jones of Bolivar Missouri; fourteen grandchildren (and spouses) –   Moss Foster (Alisha Depew), Makayla Partch (Joey), Daniel Griggs, Amber Mizell, Jessica Hatch (Clint), Joseph Mizell, Graham Foster, Nolan Foster (Matilda Westin Bergh), Dr. Harper Riner (Taylor), Jacob Queen (Liezel), Madelynne Jones, Abigail Sparks(Trevor),

Sam Jones (Molly), and John Jones (Hannah); three siblings -Joe Ben and Carol Jean Whetstine, Tim and Evelyn Whetstine and Roberta (Bobbi) Still; ten great grandchildren – Caleb Partch (Hailey), Alex Foster,  Makenzie Foster, Lillyanna Mizell, Misty Hatch, Cyrus Hatch, Jody Hatch, Margarita Queen, Luke Sparks, and Anna Sparks; and one great-great-grandchild coming this spring – Baby Partch

Visitation with family and friends will be held on Saturday, November the 18th, 2023 at 1pm with services to follow at 2pm at the Shiloh Community Church in Fayetteville Arkansas and interment will be at the Missouri Veterans Cemetery in Springfield Missouri at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, please consider memorial donations to the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home at:

mbch.org/ways-to-give-memorials-honorariums/

in the Occasion for Tribute box type:

‘In celebration of the life of Macky Foster Queen’

Or checks can be sent directly to Missouri Baptist Children’s Home, 11300 St. Charles Rock Road, Bridgeton, MO 63044.