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Sarah Burrell Foster
AUGUST 13, 1951 – AUGUST 1, 2024
IN THE CARE OF
Sarah Burrell Foster died Thursday, August 1, 2024 at Arden Courts, after suffering many years with Alzheimer’s disease. She was 72.
Born in Iowa City, IA on August 13, 1951, to David and Barbara Foster, Sarah was from the start a spunky girl who knew her mind, hated itchy lacey clothes, and loved to play. She was lucky that she never needed uncomfortable clothes or special make-up. Sarah was a natural beauty.
Growing up in Cedar Rapids, IA, La Jolla, CA, and finally Dallas, TX at 10-years-old, Sarah became a true Texan. She attended and graduated from Richardson High School and remains friends with former class members. After leaving for college at U.T. Austin in 1969, she stayed in Austin and never looked back. She earned a B.A., M.A., and J.D. from U.T. Austin and was first a schoolteacher here for 7 years, and eventually a law partner at Haynes & Boone LLP.
Sarah was an accomplished athlete in running, swimming, cycling and soccer and more. One of her proudest accomplishments in sport was helping to establish the U.T. Women’s Soccer team. Cycling also introduced her to Kevin Alan Bice, who unbeknownst to her, admired her from afar at Safeway long before they met. Sarah and Kevin married on March 22, 1986, and had their beloved son, Matthew David Foster Bice, an Austinite since birth, on October 13, 1988.
Sarah and Kevin’s life has been full. She has had friends too numerous to list. They have loyally stood by her in extraordinary ways – well above and beyond the call of duty – and have met the challenge of easing the toll of this cruel disease. Sarah’s devoted caregiver and beloved friend, Sarah Weaver, made a difference in her life that is truly beyond measure. Sarah’s family honors them here. No thanks can be enough.
Predeceasing Sarah are her father, David H. Foster, her stepmother Fiona Foster, her mother Barbara B. Ravitz and stepfather, Harry I. Ravitz , and her brother Robert C. Foster.
Surviving Sarah are husband, Kevin Bice, son, Matthew Bice, sister, Kathleen Foster Goodwin (Barry), cousins Deborah MacCarthy of GA, Robin Hinshaw of NY, Debbie Hinshaw of IN, and David Hinshaw of CA and many stepsisters and their families.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Friends of Deep Eddy at deepeddy.org, or to the Alzheimer’s Association at alz.org.
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Shannon Burnham (Kirby)
Sarah and I really connected senior year as she, Jody McHaney and myself had gone away to school our junior years. It was hard to return and pick up where we left off and we became a bit of comrades. I'm sorry to learn of her passing.
Robert Carlson (Carlson)
As I recall, Sarah was always smiling!
Russ Stovall
So sad to hear of Sara's passing. My memory of her was she was very nice person. Very gentle and kind nature about her. As Robert stated always had a smile on her face. RIP
Susan Melton (Harden)
Besides being ultra "cool" and adored by the guys, I remember Sarah in 2 particular ways. First, sitting in the required Health class at the very last row, Sarah and I would pay more attention to what Madeline Crawford had to say regarding women's health issues. Madeline also sat on the last row. Sarah and I were able to benefit from her wit and wisdom. That shared experience was the most positive result of Women's Health.
Secondly, Sarah was a team mate of mine on Student Activities for the annual staff. We had great fun putting together pages and commentary. Sarah was fun, worldly, down to earth, friendly. I admired her. I am saddened to hear of her death. My condolenses to her family.
I will remember her height, her blue eyes and an engaging smile.
Susan Melton Harden
Bob Fleming
I remember Sarah well from Richardson Jr. High and High School. I thought of her then and now as smart, tall, pretty, and happy. She was also unafraid and always able to voice her opinnions and speak her mind.
Most impressively, she was frank and and able to stand up to and take on the boys directly and face to face. And always the smile.
My mohter taught 9th grade history at Richardson Jr. High; she never spoke to me of her students, since so many were also my friends and acquaitances, not just her students.
She made few exceptions to this rule and Sarah was one. My mohter admired Sarah, most clearly because she was independent and unafraid. I believe she saw in Sarah possible futures for young women that were not afforded her generation.
Over the years she occasionally asked me how Sarah was getting along and I think was proud to here of her success. So I kept up with Sarah, never missing the chance to see her at reunions or in trips to Austin.
(I remember clearly a beautiful picture of her in her Eaglette uniform that held a prominent place on her bookshelf in her home.)
In a word, Sarah was gracious.
Bob Davidson
I knew Sarah in high school, but got to be friends with her in college.
When we were sophomores, I fell in love with a brilliant, beautiful Marxist. Nancy was a year younger than us, but about graduate summa cum laude with a degree in philosophy. She was from a wealthy family, her dad was a friend of John Silber (for you Plan II people) and she was his kids' babysitter. Her friends were heavy duty intellectuals, mostly graduate students in philosophy. Around them, I was a sort of cromagnon -- someone with practical abilities and actual testosterone in my boby but ignorant of what they thought was important in the life of the mind. Silber's class was my introduction to philosophy and I felt totally outclassed my these people.
Several of these friends of Nancy were Ragstaffers, as was Sarah. (The Rag was the radical weekly newspaper in Austin during our college days.) Like me she was in a relationship with a commie and was seeming to try it out. She was the only one of these radical leftists that seemed like a regular person and didn't make be feel like a freak. After I read my ass off trying to understand those people,broke up with Nancy, then discovered Faulkner and understood the shallowness of the Marxist vision, I stayed friends with Sarah. She bought into the leftist worldview, but was still sane, interesting, and easy to talk to. I rode back and forth to Dallas several times with her, in her VW camper bus.
Years later, I started running into Sarah at legal conferences and seminars. We had both gone to law school and practiced bankruptcy law. Interestingly, the former commie was representing corporations and I, the reactionary, consumers. We had sons who were about the same age and I enjoyed hanging around her. She was an accomplished attorney with interesting legal insights and still fun to know.
I really like is when I see people I knew as teenagers who become top notch professionals as adults, like Sarah and Steve Gardner as lawyers. (I remember David Seidler as president of the Texas Young Lawyers when we were all young lawyers and saw him speak -- he was still funny, but don't remember talking to him, and heard good things about Boyd Patterson as an associate judge in Dallas, but never practiced there.)
I hadn't seen Sarah since our sons were in high school, but have fond memories of a smart, witty, and capable woman who was a fine lawyer and seemed to be a loving mother.