Chris Warfield, Germantown Newspapers

Ad Director, Passes Away

She was born on Dec 23, 1936, in Newtown Square, PA. Her siblings included Marietta Ennamorato and John Blackley, deceased.

Upon graduation from Marple Newtown High School in 1954, she went to work for the Red Arrow Transit Company, a forerunner to SEPTA. Chris followed that employment with a career as the Executive Secretary to House Counsel at Proctor Silex Corporation in Philadelphia and Valley Forge, a post she held until 1983. While there, she attended college at night from 1978 through 1984, earning a bachelor of science in business administration from St. Joseph's University in 1984.

Chris then went to work as the Office Manager for Videojet Corporation in Mt. Laurel, NJ, a manufacturer of bar code machines for 10 years before becoming involved the publishing industry as an advertising salesperson for the Germantown Courier, a Journal Register company newspaper from 1996 until the paper closed in 2009.

With the advent of Germantown Newspapers, founded by her husband James Foster in April 2009, she resumed her work in advertising sales and continued in the newspaper business as Director of Advertising with GNI, remaining at the job and in the office until days before her passing.

Chris pursued many activities outside of work, much of what she did was not known to many.

Among her interests was gardening. She loved flowers, and tended her own garden and plants throughout her home for years.

In the community arena, Chris was an active Republican Party member and served as a poll worker for a number of years in Philadelphia.

Her illness did nothing to reduce her recreational activities. Chris played tennis on a weekly schedule and also enjoyed aerobics and home decorating.

In the late 1950s, she married Harry Warfield of Newtown Square. They divorced in the 1970s.

Chris and Foster were together since July, 1982.

"We met later in life but had exactly 30 years of the best relationship one could ever hope for," Foster said.  "She turned a midlife delinquent into a reasonably acceptable person and without her behind me I would never have been able to particpate in all the life experiences I have. As much as I battled to help her through her medical challenges, she was always doing the same for me in my advertures, reckless and otherwise."

"Jim and Chris battled this dreaded and silent killer with tenacity and the kind of optimism that spoke of a fearless courage that he can remember with pride and with some appreciation that her life continued for eight years after diagnosis - much longer than most with the disease," Germantown resident and community activist Yvonne Haskins said.

Besides Foster, she is survived by her sister Marietta Ennamorato of West Chester, PA, two nieces, Jodi Pucci and Elaine Irvine, and a nephew, Rob Ennamorato.

"She lived a good eight years after being diagnosed with Ovarian cancer, many years longer than most with that disease. I think God decided I needed her so much and let me have her," Foster added. "By far these 30 years have been the best years of my life."

The family said flowers may be sent in Chris's memory.

Relatives and friends are invited to gather on Saturday, July 28 from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at the Kirk & Nice Funeral Home, 80 Stenton Ave., Plymouth Meeting, PA. Services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Interment will follow at Hillside Cemetery in Roslyn, PA.

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