Community says goodbye to Conway Co. Detention Center Officer who died while on duty

Morrilton, Arkansas – Tommy Foster Jr.’s family and friends said their final farewell on Saturday at a unique service held at Morrilton High School.

Late this month, Foster was discovered to be unresponsive while working at the Conway County Detention Center.

He was a precious soul who loved everyone as if they were his own, according to his relatives.

“Tommy was a man of smiles,” his sister Sandra Oliver said. “He loved his children, he loved his grandchildren, he loved to work, and he didn’t want to let anyone down.”

Foster spent ten years working for the prison facility as a jailer. According to his family and coworkers, he was always kind to others and was respected in return.

“He didn’t look down on anyone just because they were in jail,” Oliver said. “He looked at them as a human being, and he looked beyond what they world saw people as.”

Foster won the title of Detention Officer of the Year in 2023, an accomplishment his family will always cherish.

Foster was a member of the Devil Dogs football and track teams in his youth. But his sister, the eldest of five, recalls him the same way she always did.

“He’s a hero. He’s a hero,” Oliver emphasized. Foster’s age was 61.