Liz Foster worked hard at her menial job on a factory assembly line at Chancellor Industries ever since her husband Bill had abandoned her and her young children seven years earlier. Liz also supplemented her income doing housework at the Chancellor estate. Her eldest son William Jr. resented being named after a man who would do such a thing, so instead was called "Snapper" after his "snappish" personality. Snapper was putting himself through medical school with a part-time job, and as the "man of the family" contributed to 21-year-old Greg's law school, and kept a big-brotherly eye on his 18-year-old sister, Jill, who worked as a shampoo girl and manicurist to help support them all.

Liz wished the best for all her children and encouraged Snapper to pursue a nice, well-bred girl like Chris Brooks, daughter of the publisher of the Genoa City Chronicle. But with enough obligations already, Snapper preferred his freedom. So while he dated Chris, he also slept with Sally McGuire, a waitress at Pierre's Restaurant. Although Snapper's excuses were mostly legitimate that he had been on-call or fallen asleep due to his long hours, Stuart noticed how often Chris had been hurt and disappointed by Snapper so he opposed the relationship. Stuart learned that Snapper had been seeing Sally and told his daughter that Snapper was cheating on her, so Chris moved out of the family home and went to work for Greg at his new law office. When Chris discovered that her father was financing her salary, she quit, which disappointed Greg who had also fallen in love with her and had proposed. While job-hunting, Chris stopped for a hamburger at a singles bar, and met George Curtis. He offered to walk her home and raped her. When the case went to trial, Chris was made to look like she had not resisted, and Curtis was set free. Chris and Snapper eventually married, and Greg reluctantly was Snapper's best man at the wedding.

Greg overcame his feelings for Chris and fell in love with Gwen Sherman. They planned to marry, but shortly before the ceremony, Greg discovered from his sister Jill that Gwen was a prostitute. The marriage was postponed, and Greg tried to help lead Gwen out of prostitution. But Gwen's pimp used physical force to pressure a terrified Gwen into continuing to accept clients. Greg finally persuaded Gwen to press charges against her pimp. With prostitution behind her, Gwen experienced a spiritual awakening and left Greg to devote her life to God as a nun. Later, Greg married and divorced Nikki Reed, and during that time a hitman arrived in Genoa City with plans to kill Greg, but he accidentally shot Liz instead. Liz recovered from her injuries.

When his mother fell in love with Sam Powers, Snapper finally convinced Liz to have their father Bill declared legally dead. Unknown to Liz and her family, Bill was alive and living in a town nearby. Penniless and diagnosed with cancer, Bill sent a letter to the family. Liz invited Bill to move back into the house, and with the exception of Snapper, the entire Foster family embraced Bill's return. Although Bill realized that he still had feelings for Liz, he put her needs above his own and encouraged Liz to continue with her plans to marry Sam. But Liz broke off her engagement to Sam because as far as she was concerned, she was still a married woman. This delighted Jill and Greg, who had hoped Liz and Bill would resume their marriage.

Bill and Liz remarried, and Snapper finally reconciled with his father, but Bill's cancer progressed quickly, and the doctors doubted that he would live out the year. Bill was eventually hospitalized and put on life support. He pleaded many times with Liz to pull the plug and let him die. Because she didn't want to see her husband suffer, Liz agreed to his wishes. But Liz was so traumatized by doing so that she suffered a stroke and forgot that she did it. So Snapper, who was also Bill's doctor, was accused of killing his father. Luckily Greg was now a practicing lawyer who got Snapper cleared of murder charges, and Liz was never charged. Soon after, Jill fell for David Mallory, a young man who was blind until a cornea transplant restored his vision. The eyes he received were from the deceased Bill Foster.

Liz began seeing her daughter-in-law Chris's widowed father, newspaper publisher Stuart Brooks. Although Stuart was quite taken with Liz, she felt she was not of his class, and she avoided becoming romantically involved. In time Stuart and Liz were married, although Liz was daunted by her new life as the wife of a successful newspaper publisher. On the same day as their parent's wedding, Snapper and Chris had a baby girl, Jennifer Elizabeth Foster, named after both grandmothers.

Greg was contributing his legal services at a medical clinic where Snapper also worked when Nikki Reed stopped by to see her sister Dr. Casey Reed. Nikki was instantly attracted to Greg, they began dating, and eventually they made plans to marry. But Nikki was still dealing with the emotional aftermath caused when she killed her father in self defense, which led her to question her self worth. When Nikki's lover Paul Williams learned of her plans to marry Greg, he tried to stop her. But Nikki insisted that she loved Greg, so Paul settled for being good friends with her.

Over time, Nikki became bored and decided to pursue a modeling career to bring some excitement to her life. She signed with "La Plus Belle Rose," a modeling agency run by Rose DeVille. By the time Nikki discovered that main source of income for Rose's models was prostitution, Nikki too deeply involved to simply walk away. Rose arranged for Nikki to meet with a client, Walter Addison, in his hotel room, but when the man tried to pressure Nikki into having sex, she resisted. The man chased Nikki around the room and suddenly collapsed from a heart attack. In a panic, Nikki called Rose, who arranged for two thugs to dump Addison's body in a nearby alley. A street kid named Tony stumbled upon the body and went through the corpse's pockets in search of a wallet. The police spotted Tony and booked him for murder. Ironically, Greg was appointed Tony's public defender. Rose threatened Nikki to keep her mouth shut or Greg would be killed, so Nikki left Greg. On the way out of town Nikki had a car accident, and was hospitalized for weeks. A hitman arrived in Genoa City, but he accidentally shot Greg's mother Liz instead of Greg, but Liz recovered. Rose was arrested and Nikki's secrets came out, so Greg divorced her.

During his divorce, Greg fell for unwed mother April Stevens. Greg was stunned when April revealed that Greg's nemesis Paul Williams was the father of her baby Heather, but he saw her innocence and resolved to stick by her. When Heather became gravely ill, Greg convinced Paul to marry April to be a real father to Heather before she died. But following Heather's recovery, Paul and April agreed to divorce and go their separate ways. Greg resumed his romance with April, but she abandoned him to leave town with Paul to find her twin sister who had been adopted at birth.

Greg left Legal Aid and started his own law practice and was involved with Peggy Brooks for a short time.

In 1982, Snapper left Genoa City to accept a three-month fellowship opportunity in London, but Chris refused to give up her modeling career at Jabot Cosmetics. Not long afterward, Chris realized her place was with Snapper, and she joined him in London. Liz, Stuart, and Greg moved to London as well by the end of the year. Later Stuart died, and Liz moved in with Chris and Snapper, and devoted herself to help raise her granddaughter, Jennifer, who had two hard-working parents.

Out of the blue in 2003, Liz arrived in Genoa City with Snapper and Greg from their home in England with the news that she was about to undergo brain surgery. Knowing she may not survive, Liz felt it was time to admit to Jill that she had been adopted. Liz told her that her husband Bill had brought Jill home as a baby wrapped in a blanket. After a DNA test, Jill believed for years that her arch enemy, and Liz's good friend, Katherine Chancellor had been her real mother. But another DNA test proved that Katherine was not, and Jill's parentage again became a mystery.

In June 2010, Liz returned to Genoa City to see Jill, but was carried off the plane on a stretcher, accompanied by Snapper. Jill and Kay met them at the hospital, and Greg arrived later. Liz was diagnosed by Snapper with Wegener's disease – a rare, autoimmune disease. Fearing she may die, Liz confided one last secret about Jill's parentage to Snapper. Snapper told Katherine, saying that he knew what it was like to regret keeping a secret, as he had about his son Chuckie, so he intended to tell Jill the truth. Each of them spent some final time with Liz talking mostly about the past and Jill. Later as she had been about to finally tell the secret to a very distraught Jill, Liz passed away. Afterward, Snapper told Jill that her real father was a very young Neil Fenmore who had gotten a girl pregnant. Neil's family had refused to let him marry the girl, so she had abandoned her baby at the hospital and committed suicide. Lauren Fenmore was disbelieving when Jill told her the circumstances that made them half-sisters, but later looking at old photos of her deceased father, she shared the news with her husband Michael. Michael promised to find out the truth. Since Liz had requested no services be held, Snapper and Greg were preparing to leave as Jill returned home with the news that she had spoken to Lauren. Kay let the brothers know that she would look out for Jill. A DNA test proved Liz's story was true, and Jill was indeed the daughter of Neil Fenmore.