Educator and community stalwart.
Shirley Porter was born in Seattle on June 1, 1930. Her mother, Bernice Watson, grew up in Michigan, and was teaching school in 1928 when she married Bailey Turner Tolle, a native of Kentucky. They had to conceal the marriage until the end of the school year for the sake of her job. They then set off for California in a Model T, making their way eventually to Seattle.
The family lived at first in downtown Seattle, and then for a few years in a rural area north of the city, eventually settling into a home in West Seattle. She had one younger sister, Dorothy. Shirley loved sports and excelled in her studies, finishing at the top of her class of 400 at West Seattle High School. She proceeded in 1948 to Washington State College where she majored in psychology, again with a top academic record.
Shirley met her husband, Clinton Porter, soon after arriving at college. He was a country boy from Port Ludlow, the eighth of 13 children of William and Jenny (Swanson) Porter. Clint had just completed a stint in the Navy and was studying agriculture, funded by the GI Bill. They married in June 1950, while still students. She completed her degree just a few months prior to the birth of their first son in March 1952.
Clint’s teaching career took them for a year to Dickinson, North Dakota, followed by four years in Kelso, Washington. Shirley was fond of small-town life, and they formed some close and enduring friendships. But when Clint had the opportunity to return to the Beaver Valley farm where he had grown up, he seized it. His parents, keen to keep the farm in the family, moved into a smaller building on the property, leaving the big house, which they immediately set about modernizing, to Clint and Shirley, and their growing family. They had five children, all boys! She loved them unstintingly, but in due course she also took immediately and enthusiastically to their wives.
Running a farm was hard work for mother, too. In addition to cooking and cleaning, she canned, froze, or preserved much of their winter diet. And it could be lonesome in the country. At least she had a telephone, a party line in those days, to provide some company after the rush of morning chores. Father and mother alike grew accustomed to repeated trips back and forth in the VW bus to sports practices and other activities. Sunday, the day of rest, depended in reality on careful planning so that the beef or roast chicken could be served soon after we returned from church. And then, if the weather cooperated, came 2-on-2 basketball then mixed doubles on the crack-lined, hand-poured cement court next to the house. When the last son reached school age, Shirley began working part-time as an assistant teacher in Chimacum. She then went back to school for her teaching certificate, and taught for 12 years in the elementary grades in the Port Townsend schools.
Church had a central role in the family’s life. She once explained to a grandchild how she and Clint had relied on it to inculcate morality in their children and to remind us of our duty to the less fortunate. About 1964, their church helped a family of Dutch-Indonesian refugees find a home in the area. More recently, when homelessness emerged as a great concern, she joined in making the church property a shelter for the homeless. She was active for many years in supporting organizations such as the Orthopedic Children’s Hospital.
Shirley and Clint took an extraordinary interest in sports and other activities of their children. They traveled to hundreds of basketball games, near and far, from junior high to college level. And they engaged actively in sports, especially tennis. Whole tables were covered with trophies for the tournaments they won, beginning with the Rhododendron Festival in Port Townsend. Shirley also loved to play bridge, again in a competitive spirit, though somehow sustaining as they played rich conversation about families and activities. She played monthly in a foursome that endured for a half a century. In retirement, Clint built them a new house, just above some Port Ludlow tennis courts! They began participating in elder hostels, taking great pleasure in learning new things and meeting new people. They traveled widely by car, plane, train, and ship. Shirley was devastated when, in his early 70s, Clint’s excellent health gave way to leukemia. She lived for 23 more years without him. Although the sadness remained, she carried on with an active life of tennis, bridge, church, and travel, visiting and hosting her extended family. The tennis continued until she was about 80, the bridge games almost to 90. She never missed the wedding or graduation of a grandchild until her last few months, and she kept good track of their activities and achievements even after she began to forget other things.
She always said she did not want to become a burden, and at 87 she moved from Port Ludlow to a senior residence where she could remain active. When at last her health began to fail, the COVID outbreak intruded, making Zoom and Skype the only means of interaction. Sometimes we, her family, could do little more than remind her of our love. And right to her last days, she always gave back.
She is survived by her sons Bill, Ted, Chuck, Dave, and Brian and their wives; her sister Dorothy Winter; 10 grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. In place of flowers, please donate to Port Townsend food bank or Children’s Hospital.
