Richard Porter

1927 - 2024

Richard Porter
07/01/1927 - 09/13/2024
Richard Porter, whose life spanned the Great Depression, five wars, the Space Age, the arrival of computers, an epidemic and now Al, has passed away in Palo Alto, California at age 97.
Born to parents Margaret Jensen Porter and Glenn Arthur Porter, he grew up in Longmont, Colorado. Possessing a strong work ethic, Dick held many jobs as a young man: lawn boy, paper and grocery delivery, farm laborer (thinning and topping beets) golf caddy, railroad worker and assistant, Then in college, he was a hasher, a waiter at a resort hotel, a truck driver hauling wheat to a granary and lastly, a gas station attendant.
Our family champion was devoted to sports and was on his high school and college golf teams, all while preparing himself for service in the Naval Aircrew Program. When that program was eliminated during World War II, he found himself instead aboard the USS Arneb, a cargo ship traveling to Okinawa, Tokyo, Sasebo and Shanghai. Upon his return to the states, he used the Gl bill for college and graduated in 1951 as a Kappa Sigma from the University of Colorado, later a member of the Engineering Dean's Club there. Dick went on to serve as an industrial engineer and sales manager in Salt Lake City and San Francisco. He was also vice president and shareholder of Yamas, a temperature control company in South San Francisco.
In 1973, Dick married Ann Norton Porter in Stanford Memorial Church. This dynamic partnership blossomed for fifty-one years and was enriched by trips to Europe as well as travel to Stanford football and basketball away-from-home games.
But even though this was a devoted relationship, Dick's first love was golf, a game he enjoyed playing from age eight to ninety and one he found to be a sure way to tell the honesty of a fellow man. Other sporting ventures of his included the Colorado Ski Patrol, playing tennis, belonging to the Stanford Golf Club and serving as a docent at Stanford's Athletic Hall of Fame.
The Absence of this responsible, gentle and caring man, one possessing great integrity, has created a hole in the hearts and a massive void in the lives of his survivors: wife Ann Porter, daughters Jane Caswell, Alison Porter, grandchildren Chelsea, Connor, Travis, Savannah and Emily, sister Margot Scharpf, and former wife, Thelma Lane. All of us wish him eternal peace as he continues to love us from a higher place.
At Dick's request, no public service will be held.