Mamie King Portis

Mamie King Portis, age 97, of Tuscaloosa, died Feb. 3, 2013, at DCH Regional Medical Center. Services will be 1:30 p.m. Saturday at Elizabeth Baptist Church with Rev. Vernon Swift officiating. Burial will follow in Memory Hill Gardens with Memory Chapel Funeral Home, a Dignity Memorial Provider, directing. Visitation will be tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. at the funeral home.

She was preceded in death by her loving husband, Vivian; her daughter, Betty; her grandson, Earnest Spears; and her great-grandson, Oliver “Pepa” Harris.

Survivors include her daughters, Kathryn Anderson (Clifton) of Tuscaloosa, Dorothy Thomas (Willie) of Montgomery, Rose Kinsey (Ervin) of Gardena, Calif., and Sylvia Collins of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif.; her sons, Oliver Spears (Helen) of Grand Rapids, Mich., Robert Spears of Oakland, Calif., Vivian Portis III (Bonita) of Montgomery, and Ronnie Portis (Patricia Diane) of Fort Wayne, Ind.; her sister, Hazel Longmire of Mobile; 16 grandchildren; 21 great-grandchildren; and five great-great-grandchildren.

Mamie Portis was known as “Shug” by relatives and friends in Clarke County, Alabama. She was a native of Barlow Bend, Alabama and was born February 22, 1915, to the late Haze and Zilphia (Campbell) King. She resided in Walker Springs, Alabama and was a member of St. Luke Baptist Church. She later moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama.