A “gem of a woman,” as some describe Julie Foster, had the foresight decades ago to realize the importance of mental health and in her passing leaves behind gratitude and praise for her prescient work in several facets of the community. Foster, co-founder of the Colorado Springs affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, died April 29 at age 89, in her apartment in the city’s first co-housing community that she and her late husband, Phil, helped create in the late 1990s. She left this world unexpectedly, following a brief physical decline, according to her family. In fact, Foster had planned to attend this year’s May 9 NAMIWalks, an annual fundraiser focusing on mental health and wellness at Panorama Park, as her 90 th birthday approached in June, leaders of the organization said. Foster never retreated from being involved with the organization she started, said Lori Jarvis, who was the office’s executive director from 2012 to 2025.…