Margaret Yust Porter

died on November 24, 2010 of Alzheimer’s at Silverado Senior Living in Sugar Land. A

long-time resident of Houston, Margaret was born in Mansfield, Louisiana, and lived in

Vinton, Louisiana until age nine. Her family next moved to the small oil town of Batson,

Texas, where some family members still live. Having skipped two elementary grades,

Margaret, at 15, entered the then all-female college C.I.A. (now Texas Women's University)

in Denton. She majored in library science and earned a teaching certificate in business

courses. Her first teaching assignment was in Belton, where she met and married the older

brother of two of her students. She and Lynn Porter, who died in 2004, were married for

68 years.

While her children were young, Margaret was an at-home mother who expertly sewed

coats and prom dresses for her daughters, baked bread, enjoyed the local garden club, helped

with pets and for a while farm animals, and played games with her children. Later

she taught elementary classes at St. Rose of Lima and Spanish at St. Pius X High School,

and then was the All Saints Elementary librarian until she was 70. At All Saints she also

voluntarily tutored students in reading. Other volunteer work included serving as both Den

Mother and Girl Scout leader at St. Rose, caring for sick or injured relatives, and babysitting

neighbors’ children.

Her many interests included reading, crossword puzzles, word games, young

children, children’s literature, and visiting her grandchildren in Philadelphia. Relatives and

friends remember her warm personality, hospitality, devotion to her immediate and extended

family, and ability to quote poems learned in her youth.

Margaret is survived by her children, Margaret Porter Murphy and husband Bill

Murphy of Philadelphia, Mary Lynn Porter of Houston, and Rev. Dan Porter, C.S.B., of

San Lorenzo, Mexico; grandchildren, Kevin Murphy and wife Page Selinsky, Brian

Murphy and wife Mingming Zhang, and Nora Murphy and husband Ward Cheney; and

great-grandchildren Sophie Zhang-Murphy, Janna Murphy, and Miles Murphy. She is also

survived by one sister, Anna Yust Kirn, and one sister-in-law, Mary Porter Warrington, and

many beloved nieces and nephews.

Visitation with the family will be held from 6-8 p.m. December 10 at Pat H. Foley

Funeral Home, 1200 West 34th Street, Houston. Memorial and graveside services will

be held December 11 in Batson, Texas in Guedry Cemetery at 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers,

donations in her memory may be made to the Silverado Senior Living Employee Fund, 1221

Seventh Street, Sugar Land, TX 77478 or Silverado Hospice Sugar Land, 2205 Williams

Trace Boulevard, Suite 101, Sugar Land, TX 77478.