J. Wayne Porter, Ph.D. passed away peacefully at home on February 5, 2014 following complications from a stroke he suffered in early December of 2011. Born on March 7, 1922 the proud son of school teachers and farmers from Rostraver Township in southwestern Pennsylvania, Wayne lived a very full life. He and his two brothers were World War II veterans, and he served as a Master Sergeant for the 452nd Quartermaster Company of the Third Army in Europe. After the war, Wayne spent a brief period working in a Pittsburgh steel mill before getting his BSEE from Carnegie Institute of Technology (Carnegie Mellon). He had a distinguished career working for RCA Corporation in Morristown, New Jersey which included being a David Sarnoff award winner for Outstanding Achievement in Engineering in 1961. While continuing to work for RCA, Wayne earned an MSEE from University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University. In 1968 Wayne moved his family to the Colorado Springs area, and he lived in the same house in Black Forest since July,1969. He worked for several defense contractors in Colorado Springs well into his 80's, and he even co-authored a patent at the age of 81. Wayne had many varied interests outside of his work, but he was especially fond of Native American culture and history, steam locomotives, gardening, bird watching, and bowling.
Wayne is survived by his six children, Nanette Gay Gonzales and husband Terry Richards of Colorado Springs, Heather Olive Porter-Cornell and husband Martin Cornell of Colorado Springs, Holly Orva Tryon of Colorado Springs, Oliver Wayne Porter of Alexandria, Virginia, Daniel Arden Porter and wife Jessica Morgan of Manitou Springs, and David Alan Porter of Colorado Springs. He is also survived by eight grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and several nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife Ruth Lillian (Davison) Porter, his parents Oliver Tilden Porter and Alvina Amelia (Danielson) Porter, and his two brothers James O. Porter and John D. Porter.
Friends and family will be received at a viewing from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday, February 10 at the Swan-Law Funeral Home, 501 N. Cascade Ave., Colorado Springs, 471-9900. A funeral service will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday, February 11 at the same location. Interment with military honors will follow at Eastonville Cemetery in Black Forest. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Labre Indian School (Ashland, MT) and American Indian Education Foundation (Albuquerque, NM).
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