Sarah Elizabeth Porter Thompson

Sarah Elizabeth Porter Thompson passed peacefully at home on the 18th of March, 2015, surrounded by her loving family. Sarah was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on the 5th of November, 1939, and grew up in Dallas, Texas. She was married in Dallas on the 23rd of December, 1960, to Marcus Leslie Thompson. Sarah is predeceased in death by her father, J.L. Porter, her mother, Ethel Mann Porter, and her brother, Dwight Irvin Porter.

Sarah is survived by her husband of 54 years, Marcus Leslie Thompson; her loving daughter Susan Turcotte and husband, Brad, of Nashville, Tennessee; and her two grandchildren whom she adored, grandson William and her namesake granddaughter, Sarah. She is also survived by a nephew, Dwight Stephen Porter, of Portland, Oregon.

Sarah graduated from Highland Park High School and Southern Methodist University, where she earned a degree in Elementary Education. Sarah loved to teach. While living in Dallas, she taught first and third grades in the Dallas Independent School District. After moving to Houston in 1967, she taught elementary grades in the Spring Branch Independent School District. Several years later, Sarah stopped teaching grade school and became a Volunteer Docent at the Heritage Society at Sam Houston Park in downtown Houston. She greatly enjoyed giving tours and explaining Texas history to school groups and other visitors, and she particularly liked giving tours to out-of-state and foreign visitors who previously had only vague ideas about the history of Texas. She retired from her service as a docent after more than twenty years.

Sarah loved to read, and her favorite books were historical novels relating to Texas history. She was a member of the Junior Current Literature Society and the retired docent group DOLS. She loved to dance to classic country music. She also loved to travel to the family log cabin near Wimberley, Texas, to feed and watch the deer and turkeys. She enjoyed planning and taking family vacations, both domestic and abroad.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from five o’clock in the afternoon until seven o’clock in the evening on Monday, the 23rd of March, in the drawing room and parlor of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

A memorial service is to be conducted at one o’clock in the afternoon on Tuesday, the 24th of March, in the Chapel of St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 3471 Westheimer Road in Houston, where Rev. Bill Denham, Pastor of Caring Ministries, is to officiate. Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception to be held in the Hines Baker Room.

Her family wishes to thank the physicians and staff at MD Anderson Cancer Center who helped her through her nine-year fight with cancer, and the staff of Houston Hospice who helped her peacefully transition at home.

In lieu of customary remembrance, memorial contributions may be directed to the charity of your choice.