John Dewayne Porter was born on November 13, 1949 in Richmond Indiana. Son to Ralph and Onia Porter and big brother to Edward Porter, he spent his 71 years building a full life in Richmond. John truly did not know a stranger and was always the first to run to a friend’s aid. His sense of humor was one of a kind. John had a way of dominating a room and mesmerizing you with talks of the history he loved so much, The Civil War.
John was a wonderful husband to Cynthia for 51 years. The true loves of his life were his children, Jordan (Justin) Clay and Jonathan Porter. John was the epitome of everything a father should be – patient, encouraging and loving. He found a new kind of love he didn’t know existed when he became a Pop-Pop to Jackson and Harper Porter.
The battlefield where he spent decades as a Confederate Civil War reenactor was where John truly found peace and felt most at home. He was welcomed into a family of brothers and sisters there who give true meaning to the word family. This family lovingly gave him the nickname Black John that he cherished until his last breath. Always needing to be the earliest one to arrive anywhere, in typical John fashion, he left this earth on January 22nd to beat us all to that big campfire in the sky…where God and those who went before him were waiting with a Grenadier in hand.
Private services were held for the family at Riggle-Waltermann Mortuary.