HELPING KIDS GO EXTRA MILE VALLEY TEACHER VIRGINIA FOUST HAD A STRONG WORK ETHIC.

Byline: Holly Andres Staff Writer

ENCINO - With her Southern drawl and no-nonsense approach to teaching, Virginia Foust spent decades encouraging San Fernando Valley students to excel and prove to themselves they could succeed.

Foust, who had lived in Encino since 1966, died Oct. 19 in Encino. She was 75.

``She had a work ethic that was rooted in hard work on a cotton farm in Lost Cane, Ark.,'' said daughter Jennifer Foust. ``My mother was a 'tough-love' kind of person, but she treated everybody the same. My mother was a saint.''

Foust worked as a substitute teacher at Lawrence Junior High in Chatsworth and other Los Angeles Unified School District campuses, teaching physical education, math and English.

She also taught math at San Fernando Junior High from 1981 to '94, before transferring to Sylmar High School.

``Virginia was concerned with every student in her class. She was tough but fair. She expected her students to accomplish something and she told them that,'' said Marcia McCourt, who chaired the math department at San Fernando Junior High.

``She gave them real-life situations for learning math. She also tried to teach the kids morals - the right thing to do. She really felt that was important, that they become good people.''

McCourt said Foust persuaded many students to go on to college.

``The kids would come back to visit her. She was so interested in people succeeding,'' said McCourt, who now teaches at Lawrence Middle School. ``She was an excellent teacher.''

Foust gave private swim lessons for about 30 years and also coached her son Greg's Little League team, one of the first female Little League coaches in the San Fernando Valley.

``She cared about kids. She touched everyone she came in contact with,'' said her other daughter, Christina Goldstein. ``She was strong, independent and opinionated. She stood up for what she believed in. She was the best mom ever.''

Edith Virginia Evans was born March 11, 1929, in Thornton, Ark. She won a basketball scholarship and majored in physical education.

Foust used the skills she learned as a girl to make homemade bread and preserves. She insisted upon sit-down family dinners and preferred hanging her family's laundry outside in the sun.

An accomplished seamstress, she made the cheerleading outfits for Birmingham High School when Goldstein was on the squad.

Foust is survived by her children, Jennifer Foust, Greg Foust and Christina Goldstein; four grandchildren; and two sisters, Dorothy Grant and Bernice Parky.

A memorial service is pending. J.T. Oswald Mortuary in Reseda is in charge of arrangements.

Holly Andres, [phone]

holly.andres(at)dailynews.com

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