So I’ve been going through boxes of clippings and photos that I found in the storage area. Most are of people and places I don’t know, but a few are quite intriguing.
Foster’s Dinette, a restaurant that was formerly in the Bales Midtowner or Midtown Shopping Center in Beaverton Oregon, is one of these intriguing finds.
I found several clippings from the Valley Times (circa early 1970s) regarding the owner’s donation of restaurant facilities to a church youth group in May 1971 and also in March 1970. There are also several pictures of the restaurant, both inside and outside.
I am intrigued and interested in finding out what happened to this restaurant, as I lived in the area where it was located in the mid 1990’s and it did not exist at that time.
I do know that the owners of the restaurant (Winnifred Foster–aka Winn–and Allen Foster) had relocated to the Bend, Oregon area sometime before August 1, 1972, as they purchased The Pine Tavern (a full service restaurant overlooking the Deschutes River) on that date. I know this because my father (James Roley) later married Winn Foster (in Reno Nevada on October 20 1975) and she became Winn Roley (and my stepmother too!).
Any information on Foster’s Dinette, the Lobster House, The Pine Tavern or any other restaurant owned or managed by Winn Roley, Winn Foster, or Winn Barr would be appreciated.
Any information about Winn’s maiden name would also be welcomed. I believe but do not know for a fact that she was born in Maine or Vermont. Her father raised horses, her mother drank too much, and Winn was named after a horse : Winnie Maude. She always told me she was just glad her name was Winnifred and not Winnie!
According to a clipping from the Bend Bulletin dated August 23 1975 Winnifred Maude (maiden name unknown) Barr Foster Roley began her restaurant career at the age of 14 when she took a job at a restaurant in Maine that was owned by Don Vallee, the brother of once-famous Rudy Vallee.