Becky Porter

Becky Porter died peacefully at home on August 27, 2025.

She was born in Nashville, Tennessee on June 28, 1946, the first of three girls born to T. Coy and Fanajo Porter. She grew up in the South, spending summers on her great-grandparents' farm in Kentucky, where she learned to fish, to follow baseball on the radio, and to memorize Bible verses. Both of her grandfathers were Church of Christ ministers, as was her father (who was also a professor at Vanderbilt and MTSU).

Becky was educated at David Lipscomb Academy, a private Church of Christ school in Nashville serving students from K-12. She earned a B.A. in English from David Lipscomb University, then earned a Masters in Literature from Peabody College, an affiliate of Vanderbilt. Becky moved to Colorado after graduation.

She taught at Alameda High School for the next 25 years. She shaped hundreds of lives, was instrumental in securing dozens of scholarships (including the Boettcher) for her students, and, year after year, sponsored Alameda's award-winning Literary Publication. Those Literary Publication staff members went on to be poets, teachers, entrepreneurs and well-rounded citizens.

After retiring from public education in 1996, Becky became certified as a massage therapist and worked in that field before realizing, at 53, that she had been able to channel her grandfathers' and father's evangelical nature as a teacher, but she was ready to become a preacher. She pursued and earned a Masters of Divinity at Iliff School of Theology in Denver.

During her journey at Iliff, Becky gave deep and intentional thought to her upbringing in the Church of Christ. Seminary helped her reimagine a life for herself as a lesbian woman of God, and she was ordained as clergy in the United Church of Christ. She finished her long career as a chaplain at Lutheran Hospital in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

She is survived by her wife of 23 years, Dana DeMoulin, and their daughter, Ginny Durakovich Taylor (Ian). She also leaves behind two sisters, Vicki Shaub and Penny Riddle (Mark), as well as ten nieces and nephews and seventeen great-nieces and nephews.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, October 25th at 3:00 p.m. at Berkeley Community Church, located at 3701 W. 50th Ave. in Denver.

In lieu of flowers, please think about donating to one of Becky's favorite charities, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary (bestfriends.org).