Richard D. Foltz

Richard Daniel Foltz, 91, of Bethlehem, passed away on Sunday, February 25, 2024. Born on March 31, 1932, in Conrad, Montana, he was the son of the late Leo Lloyd and Anna Bridgette (Corcoran) Foltz.

He attended high school in Bellingham, WA after the family moved from Montana for greater employment opportunities. In 1952, he enlisted for three years in the Army where he worked as a telegrapher in Seattle and Tok Junction, Alaska. After discharge from the Army, he finished a BA in education at Seattle University in 1958. He worked as an elementary school teacher in Adak Island, Alaska and then Bellevue, Washington before returning to graduate school and earning his principal’s credentials. He served as an elementary school principal in three different institutions in Bellevue, Washington from 1962-1987.

In 1970, he married his sweetheart, Margaret Ann Schaefer and they welcomed their most loved daughter, Mary Catherine Foltz, in 1976. A devout Catholic, he spent his retirement engaged in service by teaching English as a second language, reading to residents of nursing homes, delivering food for Meals on Wheels, serving as a Eucharistic Minister, and supporting a variety of other ministries through churches in Bellevue and Bella Vista, Arkansas. In 2016, he and Margaret Foltz moved to Bethlehem, PA to be close to their daughter Mary Catherine, a tenured faculty member at Lehigh University. In Bethlehem, he joined Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church.

Richard will be lovingly remembered by his wife, Margaret “Peg” Foltz; daughter, Dr. Mary C. Foltz; daughter-in-law, Danielle Del Priore; grandson, Greyson Finn Del Priore Foltz; the children of his late brother Leo Foltz and his late wife Lorraine Foltz; the children of his late sister Mary Ellen Hartry; and the children of his late sister Genevieve Rawls.

In keeping with Richard’s wishes, services will be private.

In lieu of flowers, the family would be grateful for donations to support his niece, Sister Maureen Foltz, and other Carmelite sisters with the Vedruna Project (http://www.fundacionvic.org/en/foundation-vic/index.htm). Donations may be mailed to:

Vedruna Project

att. S. Maureen Foltz

1222 Monroe St. NE

Washington D,C, 20017