Doris Preston Porter

February 24, 1928  –  September 29, 2023

Obituary

Doris Preston Porter, 95, of Hornbrook, died September 29 in Yreka, CA.

A resident of Siskiyou County for 33 years, she previously resided in San Jose, CA. Mrs. Porter and her late husband, Gordon, moved to Klamath River Country Estates near Hornbrook when they retired, fulfilling a long-held plan to create a home where they could enjoy the outdoors in a beautiful setting. The house they established – and that Doris decorated – looks out on the Klamath River canyon, Pilot Rock and Mt. Ashland.

Doris Porter grew up in Burlingame, CA on the San Francisco Peninsula. She was born Feb. 24, 1928 in San Mateo, CA, to Henry Dean Wadsworth and Amelia T. (Bacigalupe) Wadsworth. She was preceded in death by her husband, parents and her sister, Louise Bevier of Cupertino, CA.

Mrs. Porter was a member of the Yreka United Methodist Church and previously worshipped with Methodist congregations in Montague, Saratoga and Burlingame, where she and her husband wed in 1953. They married on May 25, a wedding day chosen by four successive generations of her family. They had been married 69 years when Mr. Porter died at age 98 in 2022.

Doris is survived by their son, Donald Preston Porter of Saratoga; grandson, Mackenzie Dean Porter of Amsterdam in the Netherlands; former daughter-in-law, Ernestine Porter of Roseville, CA; nieces Ellen Bevier of San Diego and Gail Boettcher of Livermore, CA; cousin Mrs. Marylyn Weber of Rio Rancho, N.M.; brother-in-law Richard Porter and nephew Shawn Porter of Oregon; and sister-in-law Angela Porter.

After graduating from Burlingame High School in the mid-1940s, Mrs. Porter and a group of schoolmates maintained a friendship circle that spanned their lifetimes, with Doris as the last of the group to pass on.

Neighborliness and community were important to Mrs. Porter. She assisted through her church and in other venues. In the 1970s she was recognized for volunteering a thousand hours of service on a Santa Clara County telephone help line. She also worked with Friends Outside, a group that helped incarcerated individuals and their families. She enjoyed reading, gardening, community art fairs, biking and walking.

A homemaker most of her life, Mrs. Porter worked before marriage as an IBM operator for United Airlines in the San Francisco area. She was able to use United’s generous employee discounts in that period to travel to meet her grandmothers and relatives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and New Hampshire and to visit Hawaii after United began flights there in 1947. This began a lifelong love of travel, first while exploring the western United States on camping trips with her husband and son and later on cruises and tours throughout the world.

The family thanks the staffs of Madrone Hospice and the Siskiyou Springs Senior Living Community in Yreka and the Porters’ friends and neighbors in Hornbrook and San Jose over the decades.

Burial is be Henley-Hornbrook Cemetery, next to her husband. Girdner Funeral Chapel in Yreka is handling the arrangements.

Memorial donations are suggested to Madrone Hospice, 255 Collier Circle, Yreka, CA 96097 (madronehospice.org.) or to the Rescue Ranch Dog Adoption Center, 2216 E Oberlin Rd, Yreka, CA 96097.

Graveside Service

Friday, October 6, 2023

10:00AM

Henley-Hornbrook Cemetery
15123 Oregon Road
Hornbrook, CA 96044

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