Foerter, 65, recalled fondly

by friends, fair associates

EAST BRUNSWICK — Barbara A. Foerter, the longtime president of the Middlesex County Fair Association, passed away Sunday at the age of 65.

Foerter died at St. Peter’s University Hospital in New Brunswick after a long illness.

A lifelong East Brunswick resident who resided until her death on a Riva Avenue farm, Foerter was for years the manager of the annual Middlesex County Fair, held each August on her nonprofit association’s fairgrounds on Cranbury Road.

She also taught in the East Brunswick school district as an English teacher for 38 years, during which time she served as a cheerleading coach and an instructor for the student Shakespeare festival that she helped found.

"She was a wonderful friend," said Mary Ann Pawlek, the secretary and treasurer of the Fair Association. "She was really part of the family. She came here for holidays and birthdays after her parents passed away.

"She was just family; she was one of us," she said.

Walter Danley, a fair association trustee, said Foerter was a strong-willed person who always fought for what she believed in.

"She had a strong sense of right and wrong," he said, noting that he had known her for 27 years. "And if she felt something was right, she’d stand behind it.

"We were also friends; had dinners together," he said. "I knew her from when she was a teacher because my kids had her."

"She was dedicated to the fair and she was a teacher, so rules were rules," he said.

East Brunswick police Capt. Ralph Lamo said he also worked with Foerter for many years.

"I ran the police at the fair, while she was president of the fair association," he said. "She was very business-like, and she ran the fair committee. She was a nice person, and she always treated me well."

Four years after retiring as a teacher in 1999, she was selected for a spot on the school district’s Wall of Honor.

In addition to her service with the fair association, Foerter was a member of the East Brunswick Grange and a volunteer for the New Jersey Science Olympiad. She was also a former member of the Middlesex County Board of Agriculture.

Foerter was predeceased by her parents, and is survived by her aunt, Rose Holsten of Monroe, several cousins and her pet Yorkshire terrier, Maggie, according to her obituary, provided by the Selover Funeral Home, North Brunswick.

Funeral services were scheduled for this morning, with a Mass offered at Our Lady of Peace Church in North Brunswick.