The greater Pikes Peak region lost a true leader with a heart and a vision last week, with the passing of Julie Foster at age 89. Foster was decades ahead of her time with her mission to address mental health, years before phrases like “mental health awareness” became part of our culture and the community’s lexicon. She co-founded the Colorado Springs affiliate of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, and until her sudden decline in health before her death, she was still so involved in NAMI she was planning, just shy of the age of 90, to attend Saturday’s NAMIWalks annual fundraiser at Panorama Park. Kirk Woundy, co-director of the local NAMI, summed up the groundbreaking role Foster played in the 1980s in an interview with The Gazette. Back then, people didn’t talk about it due to the stigma surrounding mental illness. As a result, those afflicted suffered in silence and fear, as did their loved ones.…